Rebellion's Rise
by Red Berin
Summary: Argost is back with newly acquired cryptid-controlling powers and has vowed revenge on the Saturdays and to take over the world. Zak, powerless, has to prove his mettle yet again and put an end to Argost once and for all. Rated T for violence.
1. Prologue

I probably never will own The Secret Saturdays, but please don't let that stop you from enjoying the prologue to **Rebellion's Rise**!

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Finally, after four, long years of searching, I've finally accomplished it. For a time, even I thought it would never be accomplished, but I shocked even myself.

The reversal mirror was surprisingly easy to find and it would prove much use in my endeavors in the odd, alternate world.

That Vince was almost more trouble than he was worth, I must admit, however, if it wasn't for him and my... how should I say... persuasion techniques I would never be where I am today.

It was rather odd, living in a world full of alternate beings, especially whenever I came upon myself. The orang-bati isn't something to be seen for the faint of heart or the weak and, fortunately, I am neither. Despite the deceiving name and description of this Indonesian cryptid, he turned out to be sickeningly nice, a regular opposite doppelganger, without the ghostliness. But I digress.

With much convincing, the imbecile agreed to my plan, and part one of my master scheme was finally completed. Much to my pleasure, Vince knew all too well the location of the Ruk Stone and all it takes is fear of being sent to a world where everybody has finally learned to fear and despise my identity.

I only needed on more item now, and I had searched the entire time for it. When I began to fear my time was running short, I was extremely fortunate to come across it in Vince's own private stores of antiques and legendary items. He was rather fond of collecting them but I knew I could put them to much better use. This world's Flute of Gilgamesh was going to be very helpful in reaching the end results of my plan.

Even now, I can't quite remember how I finally managed to convince Vince to send me back to my own world, my home sweet home. I accomplished it though, but I wasn't finished just yet.

Upon my arrival, I predictably and immediately went home to my lovely mansion to find it had been kept wonderfully in shape by my ever so faithful assistant Munya. Despite my warm welcoming, there was absolutely no time for rest. I spent another year swamped in attempts to transfer the power from the Ruk Stone to myself.

Finally, on one particularly cold October night, I had done it! Ruk's power was now mine! Through tests, procedures, and my superior knowledge, Ruk's power now rested in my being and I was finally ready to control my well deserved army of cryptids and take revenge on the Saturdays! The world would see, yet again, that Argost truly lives!

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I know this is rather short, but I just wanted to set up the basic plot here instead of launching full-force into the first chapter. Anyways, stay tuned for the first chapter, I'll have it up as soon as possible. Please don't forget to leave a magnificent review, kudos to those that do! Thanks for reading!


	2. Ambuscade

Sorry it took so long everyone, but here is Chapter 2! (Technically 1, but you get the idea...) I don't own the Secret Saturdays!

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"Hey Dad, don't you think it's about time I learned-,"

"No Zak."

"But Dad-,"

"I said _no_, Zak."

"Well, why not?"

"You tell me how almost destroying the space station deems you responsible enough to drive a car!"

"You were the one who wanted to take me up to the station in the first place! I shouldn't be held responsible for something you decided to do!"

"Pressing unknown buttons was not something I decided to do!"

Zak was finally at a loss for words. He knew he shouldn't have pressed those buttons, but it was pretty boring on that station, having to listen to the astronaut's ramblings about the different parts of whatever it was he was talking about.

"Besides," Doc continued, "Ulraj is older than you and you don't see him driving."

"Dad, Ulraj is in charge of an entire kingdom and he gets to ride a giant sea serpent. Why would he want to drive?" Zak snapped back.

Doc, bewildered, thought for a moment, and then said, "What about Wadi?"

"She drove me whenever we had to stop that salt man," Zak retorted. He felt he was finally getting somewhere with this argument.

"If your mother and I did teach you how to drive, you do realize that doesn't give you the ability to drive the airship?"

Zak, who knew that had to be said before anything else could, simply replied, "Yes."

"We'll have to see what your mother says. Not all sixteen-year-olds learn how to drive as soon as they turn sixteen."

At that moment, Drew had walked into the room. "The driving talk again, huh? You know Zak, I left the temple whenever I was eighteen and it was still a couple years later when I learned how to drive.

"Yes Mom, you've told me that before," Zak responded, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Mini-man wants to learn how to drive?"

The three turned to face Doyle as he entered the room.

"Of course he does," Doc answered.

"You know, I could teach-,"

"NO!" Both Doc and Drew shouted together.

"Okay, okay, jeez…" Doyle held up both of his hands in defeat.

"It's not that we don't trust you, Doyle," Drew began.

"It's just that some of the things you've taught Zak aren't exactly safe," Doc finished.

Doyle mumbled indignantly under his breath, but no one said anything else on the subject.

Doc sat down at the nearby computer and began to type on the keyboard. Drew hovered over his shoulder, intently watching the screen. Maps of different locations around the world popped up on the screen, each pinpointing a different location of a different cryptid.

"Any cryptids out there?" It had been four years since Zak had lost his powers, and he felt that every mission he went on made him stronger. He felt he would eventually be able to do just as well on missions as he did with his Kur powers. Nowadays, he couldn't simply run into danger and try to make the cryptid stop. No, those times were long gone. Zak remembered his parents' refusals to allow him on any more missions now that he didn't have his powers. That had lasted for about a year, but Doyle and Zak had managed to talk the two scientists into letting Zak go out once more.

"We don't know yet, Zak. We're trying to find one that has been reported by the Secret Scientists," Doc explained as he hovered the pointer over several pictures of supposed cryptids.

"Doc, look at this one," Drew said, pointing at an indicator pointing to somewhere in Indonesia.

"You always have to go for the dangerous-looking ones, don't you?" Doc asked, shaking his head.

It definitely looked dangerous. The most notable feature of the cryptid was its wings, which were bigger than the body itself. The wings looked like those of a dragon and the creature had a tail that, like the wings, was bigger than the body. The body itself resembled a gorilla's or an orangutan's. The skin was a black color. One thing was for certain, the cryptid in the picture did not look happy.

"It's an orang-bati," Doc read aloud. "It lives on the island of Seram in Indonesia. Villagers are terrified of it because it is said to eat children."

Zak's face involuntarily twisted into a grimace of disgust. "Well, if the thing's out of its habitat, no wonder people are calling in an alert." He added quickly, "Is that what we're going after?"

"Maybe it's what your father and I are going after," Drew retorted. Sure Zak wasn't exactly a child, but she didn't want to risk that, especially with no Kur powers on Zak's side.

Instead of an argument from Zak, Doyle spoke up, "Drew, how do you expect him to make it on his own if you won't let him take risks?" Drew's gaze snapped to meet Doyle's eyes, but she didn't say anything. "Besides, I'll come along on this one. I won't let mini-man do anything too stupid."

"You better not either, Doyle," Doc responded.

"What? There is no way we're letting Zak go after some cryptid that eats children!" Drew argued, her voice rising.

"Drew, Zak is not a child," Doc said quietly. Zak noticed Doyle was now smirking. "He could really help us, and I do want our son to not be afraid."

Even though she looked as if she wanted to argue, Drew did not. She simply nodded and headed towards the cockpit. "I'll drive," she said as the door closed behind her.

"Dad, is Mom okay?" Zak asked worriedly, looking at the now closed door.

"Yes. You know how she gets, never being the one to take being wrong lightly." With that said, Doc got up out of his seat and walked through the door after Drew.

Once the doors closed, Doyle burst out laughing. "The look on her face was priceless!"

"What are you talking about, Uncle Doyle?"

"When Doc said you weren't a kid anymore! That definitely got it through to her, I would say."

"I know what you mean. Dad just fired it at her, too!" Zak joined in Doyle's laughter. Once the two stopped he said, "By the way, thanks for getting them to let me come along."

"Hey, it's no big deal. Besides, I thought maybe we could let them chase after this orange bat or whatever it is and I could give you some secret driving lessons," Doyle explained.

"Wow, really? Thanks!"

"It's no problem, really. I think of it as my family duty… to you anyways." Doyle said with a smile. He turned to leave the room, but Zak followed him. The two headed to the cockpit. The first thing they noticed when they walked inside was the silence that emanated from Doc and Drew. It was an angry silence, where no one would speak out of irritation of the other.

Zak and Doyle took seats behind the two and buckled themselves down. A low growling came from Zak's right, so he looked down. Komodo was sleeping peacefully next to Zak's chair, just as Fisk and Zon were sleeping in Zak's room.

"How far away are we, Dad?" Zak asked, not looking up from Komodo and not wanting to bother his mother.

"Not too far. Give it another five minutes or so."

The four sat in complete silence, apart from Komodo's low breathing and airship's steady hum until, quite suddenly, the whole airship gave a sudden lurch. Doc and Drew quickly glanced at each other before both starting pressing buttons to make an attempt at finding what had just happened.

"We've been hit!" Drew exclaimed, as a screen in front of her showed the view of a camera scanning the ship's hull.

"It doesn't look too bad, but I don't want to take any chances. We're above Seram anyway, so let's land, Drew," Doc stated. With a quick nod of her head, Drew and Doc began the process of landing the airship.

"The map shows there's a clearing in a forest next to a mountain. We're practically right above it, so we should land now," Drew said as she stared at a map on a little screen in front of her.

"Sounds good." After a pause, Doc continued, "Mount Kairatu? That's where the orang-batis are supposed to live. I think we would've passed it up if we hadn't been hit." No one responded to this statement, but anxiety had definitely increased.

Thanks to excellent piloting skills, Doc and Drew managed to safely land the airship in the clearing that Drew had mentioned before. Everyone stood up, including the drowsy Komodo, and headed outside of the airship. The five stood underneath the airship, looking up at what was a nasty tear in the ship's metal hull.

"Doc, is there any way we can repair that without waiting for help?" Drew asked, grimacing as though it hurt to see the airship in such a state.

"I'd have to check. We may have some extra materials in the storage area."

Zak and Doyle quickly caught each other's eyes. After a quick moment of understanding Zak's pleading expression, Doyle spoke, "Mini-man and I can go out and start scouting for any nearby villages or anything else that would give us a hint about this cryptid thing."

Drew gave Doc a quick, fleeting look, but Doc said, "That would probably be for the best. Come back at sundown and we'll regroup and see what we're going to do next."

"Sounds like a plan," Doyle said. He, Zak, and Komodo set off into the woods on the hunt for any signs of civilization.

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There you have it! I know it's not terrific, but reviews are much appreciated as I do hope to improve with them! Thanks for reading and I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible!


	3. Bastion

Thank you so much to all those that reviewed! It means a lot to me!

Quick Note: Translations are listed at the bottom of this chapter!

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"Munya, may I say you are a good shot." With a grunt of acknowledgement, Munya put down the gun he had used. "Now, shall we go and admire your handiwork?" Argost turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, headed towards the damaged airship. It wasn't a very far walk, but he wanted to get to the ship in time before any of the Saturdays slipped through his fingers. As the two approached the airship, they crept through the many trees to remain hidden, but still have a vantage point to see what was going on.

"Drat," Argost whispered. "It's just the mister and missus. Although the littlest one should be around somewhere and maybe even that galoot ex-apprentice will be around. They are all for the picking! Munya, this is the moment I've waited four years for! They're all in for a surprise!" Argost's whispers steadily increased in volume, and both Doc and Drew turned to look around for what was making a low hissing noise.

With one quick glance at Munya, Argost began whispering again, "Here is my plan, my faithful assistant."

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Zak and Doyle had been walking for only five minutes when Doyle pointed out a nearby stream, "Civilization usually sticks close to a water source. We should follow this for a while and see what we can find."

"You would know more about this stuff than me. Lead the way," Zak motioned with his hand for Doyle to move forward.

"You know Zak, I'm tired of your parents constantly treating you like you're five. I'm sure they're doing this because of the whole Kur deal, but it's about time for them to understand you're almost an adult and you can go out on your own soon."

"They just want me to be safe is all," Zak responded quietly.

"Zak, I was basically on my own from the time Drew and I were separated. She had the monks at that temple, but what did I have? Orphanages, and lots of them," Doyle said with a hint of anger in his voice. "Argost is lucky I didn't get a hold of him," he mumbled to himself.

Zak didn't know what to say. His mother and uncle rarely brought up the subject of Argost's attack on their family and the same applied for Zak if they ever did. He just didn't know what to say as nothing could ever change time so that Argost would never have attacked.

"No one knows what the future holds, and you're certainly no exception. I want to prepare you for whatever comes your way," Doyle explained.

"Does that include being attacked by a lake monster?" Zak joked.

"You did good at that lake, mini-man, but there are even tougher things out in the world."

"Worse than dealing with being an evil cryptid that's destined to rule the human race?" Zak asked indignantly.

"You can never know what's out in the world." With that, Doyle headed alongside the stream on the search for any sign of civilization. Zak stood still, dumbfounded by Doyle's odd statement. He soon recovered and followed his uncle along the water, his eyes on the lookout.

After walking for several minutes, Zak saw it. "There!" he said excitedly as he pointed to a column of smoke rising above the trees and into the sky.

Doyle looked up at the smoke and nodded. "As long as these people aren't those savage cannibals movies show, I think we'll be alright."

Both laughed and walked towards the smoke. The stream was behind the two and, as they walked, the unmistakable glow of fire came into view. Before they knew it, they could clearly see the fire, blazing fiercely. A piece of meat was suspended over the fire, but it was severely burnt. It was almost completely black. No one was in sight to check it.

"Uncle Doyle…?"

"Yeah, I see it. I don't get it, but I definitely see it."

Farther down the path, they noticed sturdy huts, but all looked deserted; all but one. Doyle whipped his head to the left and motioned for Zak to follow him. The two approached the hut that had caught Doyle's attention. Doyle glanced inside the window and nodded. "There are people inside."

Doyle was the first to enter the hut, ignoring any ideas of entering without permission. Zak glanced around the hut cautiously before he followed, but as he took his place beside his uncle, he noticed there were two people that were ducking underneath the window. One was a woman, the other a boy who looked a couple years younger than Zak. The boy held his shaggy hair out of his eyes with both hands and stared, dumbfounded, by Zak and Doyle. However, the mother wasn't keen on her new visitors.

"Setiawan! Anda harus melihat keluar!" (1) she exclaimed furiously.

"Maafkan aku ibu!" (2) the boy cowered against the hut wall. He wrapped his arms around his stomach, letting his hair drop down into his eyes.

"If only your mother was here," Doyle stated sarcastically. He was in no mood to deal with feuding locals.

"You speak English?" the mother suddenly and surprisingly asked.

"Obviously," Doyle stated.

"You must get out of here! The orang-bati is out tonight, looking for innocent anak!" Doyle and Zak both started at the woman with confused expressions. Realizing her slip, she said, "Children!"

"Neither one of us is a child, lady."

"Nairi," the woman quickly said.

"Excuse me?" Doyle asked impatiently.

"Nairi. My name is Nairi."

"Okay," Doyle responded as he held his hand to his forehead in annoyance. "Nairi," he emphasized the woman's name, "We're actually looking for the orang-bati. We're supposed to move it away from civilization to keep all of you safe."

"Penyelamat kita?" (3)

"Sure. So we would appreciate it if you told us where this thing is."

Seemingly undeterred by Doyle's blunt attitude, the woman said, "Oh sir, we could not send you to that monster! It will surely devour you!"

"Again, Nairi, neither of us are children. Besides, it's not nighttime yet, even if it is getting close. Oh, and, if you didn't know, it's because of your fear of this orang-bati thing that your dinner is inedible, even by that orang-bati."

"Fine. You cannot say I did not warn you. It rests in the nearby volcano during the day, and comes out to eat our children in the dark. Since you are so keen to go, I will not delay you any further." She beckoned Doyle and Zak towards the door and said, "Sampai jumpa." (4)

"Thanks," Doyle mumbled as he turned and exited the hut.

The little boy, Nairi had called him Setiawan, had remained crouched underneath the window the entire time. He had stared at Zak through all of Doyle and his mother's conversation with a slightly horrified look on his face. Zak had noticed the boy's stare, but felt awkward, so he had kept his gaze on Nairi's face. As Zak went to leave the hut and join Doyle outside, Setiawan opened his mouth and spoke for the second time, "Hati-hati."

Nairi let a smile creep across her face and translated, "Seti told you to be careful. He does not do so well with his English yet."

"Thanks guys," Zak returned Nairi's smile and left the hut.

"Real sweet, mini-man," Doyle joked as he messed up Zak's hair.

"Whatever," Zak muttered back with the same joking attitude. "Should we go back and tell Mom and Dad?"

"Yeah, I think so. Then we can take this thing on together." As he started walking, Doyle added, "We should hurry if this thing comes out at night and hunts kids."

Zak was about to respond, but he was interrupted. A short scream filled the quiet of the village and it was quickly followed by several bursts of red light that shone through the trees. Zak and Doyle exchanged quick, worried looks as they both recognized the scream as Drew's and the lights, which were in the direction of the parked airship, meant that her and Doc were fighting.

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(1) "Setiawan! Anda harus melihat keluar!" --- "Setiawan! You had to look outside!" (meant sarcastically)

(2) "Maafkan aku ibu!" --- "Forgive me mother!"

(3) "Penyelamat kita?" --- Our savior?

(4) "Sampai jumpa." --- Goodbye.

These translations aren't exact, seeing as I had to research them. Plus, I have no clue about speaking Indonesian at all!

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There's Chapter 2 for you all! Thanks so much for reading and keep on the lookout for more chapters to come. Reviews are much appreciated!


	4. Chaos

As a quick disclaimer, I must say that I do not own the Secret Saturdays, only Nairi and Setiawan. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, and I can only hope you'll have as much fun reading it! Without further ado, here is Chapter 3!

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Doyle adjusted the jetpack on his back and readied himself to take off through the trees. He grabbed onto Zak's arms, who grabbed onto Komodo's tail, and the three lifted off the ground and flew through the air. Due to the speed of the jetpack, Zak had trouble keeping his senses of their flight path, but Doyle seemed extremely at ease as he somehow managed to dodge tree after tree as they whizzed past.

In what seemed like no time at all, Doyle and Zak broke through the trees and into the clearing. Doyle quickly landed and set Zak down on the ground. Zak let the disgruntled Komodo's tail go, and they all looked to see that Drew and Doc were fighting off something with wings.

"It's the orang-bati!" Zak exclaimed.

"It's not supposed to be out here yet!" Doyle motioned to the sky, showing that it was only dusk. He readied himself to launch at the cryptid. Right before he pressed the button on his jetpack, Zak noticed something.

"Uncle Doyle, wait! Look at that thing's eyes!"

Doyle froze. "Its eyes are glowing green?" He paused as he thought for a moment. "Alright, here's what we'll do. Help your parents with that thing, and I'll scout around the area, just in case something else is behind this."

"Fine. Just don't do anything stupid," Zak grinned at Doyle's indignant expression before running towards the attacking orang-bati.

Doc was about to strike the cryptid with his Power Glove when he noticed Zak sprinting towards him and Drew. "Zak! Get out of here!"

Zak ignored his father's shout and ran right behind the floating orang-bati. Without much thought, he grabbed onto the cryptid's leg in an attempt to weigh it down. "Its eyes!" he called as the orang-bati roared in anger. "Look at its eyes!"

His parents noticed, but Drew had noticed a second too late. She had sent a fireball flying at the orang-bati to drive it away from her husband and son. It hit the cryptid directly in its chest. Zak quickly let go of its leg before it went flying through the air and crashing into a tree.

"That glow... Zak Monday?" Drew thought aloud.

"No, it can't be. It's definitely something else," Zak stated.

The orang-bati's eyes had stopped glowing once Drew had hit it, but now the glow came back, stronger than ever. It recovered from the shock of the attack and quickly used its wings to hover above the ground. It stared at the three, growled, and began furiously flapping its wings to launch itself forward, directly at Zak.

"No!" Doc shouted. He pushed Zak to the side and grabbed onto one of the orang-bati's dangerous claws and held it away from his face. Another claw was aimed for Doc's face, but he grabbed it with his gloved hand and held the cryptid out at arm's length.

"Doc, its feet!" Drew cried.

Just as she said this, the creature's two feet swung like a pendulum and slammed into Doc's chest, knocking him flat onto the ground. Drew aimed her Fire Sword at the cryptid and made to fire at it again, but the orang-bati was quick to react. It swung its newly freed arm at the glowing threat, knocking it clean out of Drew's hand. The sword flew through the air and stuck in a nearby tree's trunk.

The orang-bati proceeded to use its large, powerful wing to sweep Drew off her feet. She landed with a dull thud on her back. Seconds after, the orang-bati mimicked her as it tripped over an invisible Komodo.

"Komodo! Help me keep this thing down!" Zak commanded. Komodo hissed and jumped on top of the cryptid's flailing legs. Zak ran to the creature's head and attempted to pin its arms to the ground.

Before the cryptid was rendered immobile, the trees nearby began rustling heavily. A few moments later, Doyle's form came crashing out of them as he stumbled over trees' roots.

"Uncle Doyle, are you alright?" Zak called out.

"It's Munya!" he shouted back.

"Munya? What?" Zak muttered.

Doc and Drew were quicker to respond. As Doc helped Drew back to her feet, he began spouting off orders, "Zak, help your mother with the orang-bati. I'll help Doyle with Munya."

"Doc, I'm helping Doyle," Drew said firmly.

"Drew, I don't think you should be rushing into a fight with-,"

Before he could finish, Drew had charged over to help Doyle up to his feet and head into the area where he had supposedly met up with Munya. Doc shook his head reprovingly, but nonetheless turned to help Zak with the struggling orang-bati.

"What are we going to do with this thing, Dad?" Zak grunted as he held the cryptid down.

"We should contain it for now. Then we'll be able to deal with whatever is happening with Munya," Doc paused as the orang-bati tried to bat at him with one of its wings, and then asked, "Zak, do you think that you and Komodo will be able to hold the orang-bati down while I get something to keep it contained from the airship?"

"Yeah," Zak said as the orang-bati made an attempt to deliver Zak a headbutt. "We can handle it, right Komodo?"

Komodo hissed angrily, but did not let up his hold on the orang-bati's legs.

"Alright, I'll be back as soon as I can." Doc jumped up and ran towards the airship.

Zak watched until he had disappeared inside, but he soon had to turn his attention back to the still-struggling cryptid. "It's at times like these when I actually wish I still had my Kur powers!" Komodo growled in agreement. "Maybe then I would be able to see what's got this guy in such a state." Zak craned his neck to look at the orang-bati's furious face. "What's the matter, big guy? We're not trying to hurt you, you know. We're here to help." Despite its purpose, Zak's words seem to only provoke the orang-bati into an even angrier frenzy.

Over the noise of the orang-bati's low growling, Zak heard sounds of fighting coming from where his mother and uncle disappeared into the trees. "I guess they found Munya," Zak said aloud and Komodo seemed to nod his head.

Zak heard his father step off the airship. Looking up, he saw that he was followed by a nervous Fisk and an ever-curious Zon. His father carried a large and rather crude metal cage. When Zak saw what they were going to keep the orang-bati in, he glared at his father, who retaliated, "It was the best I could do on short notice. Besides, we won't be keeping this thing for too long."

Doc helped Zak to lift the cryptid up to try and force it into the cage. The creature put up an excellent effort not to be contained, but the combined strength of Doc, Zak, and Fisk was too much for it. Doc quickly closed the door and locked it. He stood back and admired a job well-done, but victory proved to be short lived.

The constant scuffling noises in the trees had faded into the background of Zak's hearing whenever he was helping to put the cryptid into its cage. It had gotten steadily louder and lasted for several moments after the orang-bati's capture until it quite suddenly stopped. Zak, Doc, and the three Saturday cryptids stared in the direction of where they thought Munya, Doyle, and Drew were fighting.

An outburst of noise rang through the silence, seemingly shaking the trees and even the bits of visible sky above.

"HOW _DARE _YOU!"

Zak, Doc, and Fisk exchanged worried glances as Drew's voice continued to roar.

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST WALTZ IN HERE AND TRY TO KILL US?"

"What did Munya do?" Zak asked, now trying to spot his mother and uncle somewhere in the trees.

It was not Drew's voice that next disrupted the usual peaceful feel of the woods, but Doyle's. "YOU WERE LUCKY WE NEVER GOT A HOLD OF YOU!"

Doc's worried expression turned to one of puzzlement, then realization. Zak was not so quick to pick up on what was going on, but the next voice answered questions and opened even more up.

The form of V.V. Argost came into view as he carefully stepped backward over gnarled roots and into the clearing. "Now, now, let's all deal with this rationally."

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Well there's Chapter 3 for you all! I don't really understand my fascination with attempting to leave cliffies... I guess I just feel that it adds to the suspense! Anyways, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and if you did, please leave a lovely review!

P.S. I just had a random thought. Is anyone else super excited to see the new _Alice in Wonderland_?


	5. Dolose

What would I do if I owned the Secret Saturdays? Eh... I probably wouldn't be writing fanfiction, for one thing... So maybe it's a good thing I don't own them? Ah well. Thanks to all those that reviewed Chapter 3, Chaos, and please enjoy!

* * *

"Rationally? You and I both know that neither one of us can really be considered rational, Argost," Doyle growled.

"That is true for you, my dear boy. However, I find myself to be quite sane. After all, it was my brilliant idea that decided to dispose of your meager selves before I decided to use my newly acquired Ruk powers in attempting, yet again, what I had failed to do before."

"Ruk... Ruk," Doc mused. "Kur backwards! You've been to the mirror world!" he accused.

"Why yes, Mister Saturday! Your aptitude in knowledge never ceases to amaze me, though shall I say it is quite tiresome at times, especially whenever I myself am about to announce my own brilliance in achieving my accomplishments, thank you very much."

"How dare you even think of talking to my husband, Argost," Drew snarled.

Doyle, quickly picking up on the continued hostility, added, "I say we just get rid of him now, Drew."

"What did I say about rationalities, my dear Saturdays?"

With a roar of rage, Drew made an attempt to strike Argost with her Fire Sword, but Doc had seen it coming. He quickly grabbed onto Drew's attacking arm and pulled her back towards him. Doc's steadying arm acted as the only thing keeping Drew from tearing Argost into pieces as he pulled her towards him, dragging her protesting feet on the hard dirt of the forest floor.

"Doc, you better have a good reason for not letting me rip him to shreds," Drew said through gritted teeth.

"Ever so brash, aren't we Mrs. Saturday?"

"I'll give you brash, Argost!"

Doc did his best to try and ignore his Drew's and Doyle's near-tangible desire to tear Argost apart as he said, "Argost, you better start talking now."

"Ah, what's there to tell? It only took three years for me to get out of that wretched 'mirror world' as you so blatantly call it. Oh, the horror of spending three years with your alternate self! Of course my opposite, with me being from the Himalayas, was destined to be something from a more heated climate, leading my searches to the volcanoes of Seram and to the cryptids known as the orang-bati," Argost ranted.

"Your opposite was the orang-bati? So... you brought us here and shot us down!" Doc charged.

"Mr. Saturday, I am surprised! You are much more intelligent than I gave you credit for!" Argost complimented as he clapped his hands.

"But why?"

The smile immediately left Argost's face at this question, again from Doc. "It seems I spoke too soon. Your intelligence has dissipated over the course of our time apart. I would have thought my reasons were quite obvious, to say the least." He stopped speaking to look at each Saturday. "It's simple really. I've come for my revenge. Once all of you are out of the way, I'll be able to finally rise up my army of cryptids and rule the Earth!"

Something clicked in Zak's mind. "You! You were controlling the orang-bati!"

"Ah, the youngest Saturday. You are the one I just can't wait to eliminate. You knew the real and anti-matter mixture was sour from the start, and you didn't have the heart to warn me! I guess it was all for the best, as I am now four years wiser than I was during that ghastly encounter."

"So you went to the mirror world and used the still-unfound Ruk Stone to gain Kur's powers," Doc said angrily.

"Indeed, I did. However, I grow tired of this conversation, so I think it is time to reap the rewards of my hard work! Munya, I do hope you remember the plan!" As he let out a snarl, Argost's eyes glowed with the same green aura as the orang-bati's eyes had.

For an instant, Zak was mesmerized. He had not seen Kur's powers in action for four years and he had never even thought that there must be an 'opposite' Kur in the mirror world.

Argost had effectively put his plan into motion. Munya had jumped into action and was now battling with his closest target, Doyle. Drew and Doc had both began to move towards Argost, but instead of taking a fighting stance, he waved his finger at them tauntingly. He grinned wryly as Doc continued to run at him, only to trip over an invisible Komodo.

"Komodo! What are you doing? Help us!" Doc yelled. Argost chuckled as Komodo appeared behind Doc. The Komodo Dragon's eyes were glowing green.

"Let him go, Argost!" Drew shouted in anger. Argost merely laughed again as Fisk pulled Drew's Fire Sword right from her hands. She turned on the spot to look up at Fiskerton only to see the same eerie greenish glow in his eyes. Fisk, under Argost's influence, pointed the Fire Sword at Drew, who could only stand rooted to the spot in astonishment and fear.

Zak's mind raced. He had to do something. Argost's newly acquired powers were proving to be quite a match for the Saturdays, and things were looking extremely dismal. However, there was something Argost had forgotten...

"Hey, Argost!" Zak hollered. Argost faced Zak, maintaining that same evil smile on his face. "You forgot one!"

Zon jumped off the branch of the nearest tree and glided directly at Argost. The force of the hit and Zon's weight overwhelmed him and he was knocked flat on his back. The impact ended Argost's telepathic connection to Fisk and Komodo and Zak had to act fast again. "Fisk and Zon! Take the orang-bati onto the airship. Komodo, get on there now!" he ordered.

"You think you're oh so smart, don't you?" Argost screeched; the sadistic grin was now wiped completely off his face. His eyes glowed again, as did all four of the cryptids around him. "How do you expect to fight me now, boy?"

"Like this!" Doyle, who had been dodging Munya's spider silk, jumped up from behind Argost and vaulted over his shoulders, landing between the Saturdays and Argost himself. Munya, who had been right on Doyle's tail, had chosen that unfortunate moment to fire out more of the webby substance. He missed Doyle, only to have the stuff wrap itself around Argost's legs and the Yeti toppled forward

"Munya, you fool! Guard me!" Argost commanded as he lay down in the dirt.

"Argost's been practicing," Zak stated as the four cryptids' eyes once again glowed green.

"I never would've guessed," Doyle mumbled.

The orang-bati slammed furiously against the bars of its cage in an attempt to escape, but the other three cryptids did pose as a problem. Doyle's eyes darted to his right as he noticed Fisk slowly approaching Doc and Drew with the Fire Sword. He quickly formulated a strategy in his head. There was no time to second-guess himself, so he said, "Mini-man, distract Munya for me. I'll do the rest."

"Uncle Doyle, what are you-,"

"NOW Zak!" Doyle yelled.

After that order, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Zak ran straight at Munya, not exactly sure what he was supposed to do. Komodo, who had been invisible, had hid directly in front of Zak, causing the teen to trip and fall.

Fisk had had the Fire Sword raised high above his head, preparing to strike both Doc and Drew. As he brought it slashing down, Doc jumped at Drew, using all the strength he had. The two collided and fell to the side, effectively avoiding Fisk's strike.

Doyle launched himself at Argost, hoping that the contact would be enough to break Argost's mind connection to the cryptids. Munya had been prepared for this, so he ran directly at Doyle while he was in midair. Doyle had moved slightly quicker than Munya, so he crashed into Argost's form on the ground. Munya's punch missed Doyle completely.

Argost's connection to the cryptids was broken and Doyle had already started shouting out more orders, "Fisk! Get the orang-bati and Zak on the airship and get out of here! Zon, grab and Doc and Drew! Komodo, follow them!"

Doyle's words worked as well as if Argost was forcing the cryptids himself. They instantly went into action, fully trusting Doyle. Argost shouted something to Munya, but it was inaudible to Zak as Fisk wrapped one arm around him. Doyle, although knowing it was futile, tried to push himself off the ground to follow everyone onto the airship. Just as he expected, Munya grabbed onto the jetpack and smashed it with one hand. He grabbed onto the straps Doyle kept his other equipment in, ripped them off, and threw them far into the forest.

Zak attempted to twist himself around in Fisk's arm to see what was going on, but it was no use. Fisk sprinted up the airship's open ramp, dropped Zak once they were safely inside, and ran to the cockpit to take off. Zon flew in right behind them with Doc and Drew with Komodo bringing up the rear.

In seconds, Fisk had managed to have the airship begin to take off and have the ramp begin to close. Zak's senses flooded back to him and he quickly realized what had happened. He flung himself onto the ramp as it closed and stared down at the shrinking forms of Doyle, Argost, and Munya.

Argost had already gotten to his feet. He looked directly up at Zak on the airship with a twisted, pitiless smirk as Munya began wrapping his silk around the helpless Doyle.

Zak didn't care that he was screaming his head off, all he knew was that his uncle was now in Argost's clutches. He didn't care that Fisk had returned to him and picked him off the ground, all he knew was that his uncle was not with them. He didn't care that his mother knelt beside him, also shrieking frantically, all he knew was that his uncle was in serious danger.

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Ah... the plot thickens! I felt so bad for leaving it at this point, but it seemed like a good place to end the chapter there... Let me know what you think in a charming review! I'll have the next chapter up as soon as possible!


	6. Embezzler

Is there any definite news on there being a third Season of this wonderful show? Or is it still all speculation? I hope everyone's hoping for the best! Anyways, to all those that have reviewed so far! And without further ado, here's Chapter 5!

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It wasn't until several minutes after the ramp of the airship closed that Zak finally stopped shouting. He didn't make any attempt to escape Fisk's grip and Fisk seemed almost afraid to put him on the ground.

Doc, who had just finished up setting the airship's autopilot system, had joined his family. He knelt down on the ground behind the distraught Drew and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her in towards him. At his touch, she nearly shouted, "We have to go back Doc! We have to get Doyle!"

"I looked for the three of them, Drew. By the time the ramp closed, they had already gone." With a look at Zak's devastated face, he quickly added, "I did what I could and I'm so sorry it wasn't enough."

Drew buried her face in her hands and Zak looked dejectedly at the floor. Fisk whimpered softly while the other two cryptids drew nearer to the Saturdays in the time of despair.

"We will not abandon Doyle," Drew said quite suddenly.

"The thought never even crossed my mind," Doc replied, sounding surprised.

"Argost will not take someone else from my family," Drew spoke out, seemingly unaware that Doc had spoken.

"Our family."

Zak spoke for the first time since boarding the airship. The strength in his voice surprised even himself as he continued, "Doyle's my uncle, and Dad's brother-in-law. We're all going to get him back."

"My guess is Argost and Munya took Doyle and headed back to Weird World. He knows that we're not just going to let him get away with what he's done," Doc voiced his thoughts.

"Weird World it is." Drew got to her feet and headed straight for the airship's controls.

"Drew! You know we can't just go barging into Weird World!" Doc argued.

"Why not?"

It wasn't Drew who had spoken, but Zak.

"We did it before, about five years ago. Only then, it was for Fisk and not Uncle Doyle. I don't have the Kur powers, but Argost does."

"That's exactly it Zak. Argost has these new powers, so who knows what he'll have at that nightmarish place of his?" Doc said. Before anyone could answer, he continued, "Besides, we need to get the airship fixed. I'm starting to worry that it's not going to last too long."

Drew looked appalled. "Doc, what are you saying? The airship is more important than your family?"

"No, I'm not saying that at all, I-,"

"Then why should we have to worry about the airship now? We need to get to Weird World and save Doyle before anything happens to him!"

"Yes, we're going to get Doyle as soon as-,"

"No, Dad! There's no 'as soon as' anything about this! Uncle Doyle could die in that place!" Zak's voice shook with anger at each syllable.

"Forty-three others died in there because of me. I am not letting my family walk into the hands of that vile man, cryptid, or whatever he is."

Zak felt his resentment rising up again, but his mother's tone was practically the exact opposite as she sympathized with Doc. "Honey, you know that wasn't your fault. You shouldn't feel that same survivor's guilt, especially since it was out of your control."

The family sat in quiet as the low hum of the airship droned on. Zak tried his best to let his anger ebb away, but as they sat doing nothing, his worry for his uncle grew. His father's blatant doubts of dropping everything and heading to Weird World didn't help his mood at all.

"Fine. We'll go now," Doc said loudly. He seemed to wince as the words left his lips, as if he instantly regretted what he had decided. As Doc walked towards the cockpit entrance, the airship gave a huge shudder.

Doc and Drew immediately ran into the cockpit and began searching the several computers inside for the source of the problem. Fisk, deciding it was alright to put Zak down, did so.

"Come on Fisk," Zak muttered as he headed after his parents. Fisk obeyed without question, followed by Komodo and Zon.

As soon as Zak entered along with the family's cryptids, Doc and Drew entered a hectic state. Both were running around the airship's controls. Zak watched both of them for several seconds before asking, "Dad, what's going on?"

Doc didn't answer right away. His tongue was between his teeth as he devoted all his concentration on whatever he was trying to do. He finally realized that Zak had asked a question and responded, "That hit from Argost and Munya really did affect the airship. It hit the energy storage units and we've run out. If we don't do anything, we'll crash."

How on Earth Doc managed to say that with such composure, Zak would never know. He watched, helpless and at a loss for words, as his parents scrambled around the different controls and monitors.

Drew spoke up next, "Doc, the only thing we can do is reduce the descent of the airship!"

Doc nodded. "That seems right. Okay, I'll take care of the controls. Drew, try and program the airship to land at the closest coordinates we've previously landed at."

"Is there anything I can do, Dad?" Zak asked, feeling bad as his parents did everything they could to not crash. No one answered, so all he could do was stand awkwardly by the doorway. Doc pulled back on the controls, trying to decrease the airship's descent. Drew rushed to a monitor and began trying to find any coordinates close to their location.

The airship bumped onto land, nearly knocking everyone off their feet. Doc sighed in relief at the safe landing. Drew glanced at the coordinates once more before saying, "We need to fix this now so we can get to Doyle."

"Right. Let's go." Doc, Drew, Zon, and Komodo all headed out of the cockpit and up to the door leading to the top of the airship.

They had all walked right by Zak, who was left standing with Fisk. "Hey Fisk, let's go outside and see where we're at," Zak suggested, eager to find an excuse not to lug heavy tools needed for repairs around for Doc and Drew. Fisk grunted and nodded in agreement and the brothers walked back towards the ramp. Once it was lowered, the two jogged down it to find themselves surrounded by sand. There were a couple huts just barely visible in the distance.

"We've been here before?" Zak asked, looking up at Fisk. Fisk shrugged, as he wasn't sure where they were either.

"Yes you have, Zak Saturday. I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to come see me again!"

Zak felt something being yanked off his waist. He looked down to see that his pants were around his ankles. He allowed himself a brief smile before adapting a furious look and turning around. "What happened to recovering stolen property?"

"I thought I would do it for old time's sake."

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I apologize for this chapter being so short and please forgive any spelling mistakes. I didn't use my normal word processing program, but I hope that didn't take anything away from the chapter. Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review! 


	7. Febricity

Chapter 6... Wow, this story is getting along pretty well! This chapter was a lot of fun to write, might I add, so please, sit back, relax, and enjoy the read!

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"Wadi," Zak said with a smile. "How long has it been now?"

"Oh, I don't know. Almost a year?" Wadi replied in a fake sweet tone.

"Don't blame me for that!" Zak said indignantly. He held out his hand for Wadi to give him back his belt, but she didn't.

"You're the gentleman. You should be the one to ask first!" She held Zak's belt behind her back, refusing to give it back.

"Did you ever think that maybe I would ask first if you didn't steal my belt all the time?" He took a careful step towards Wadi, determined not to trip over his pants.

"You're no fun, Zak Saturday!" Wadi pouted as she gave in and handed Zak the belt. Zak didn't answer as he picked up his pants and began to thread his belt through the belt loops. "What are you doing out here, anyways? Besides coming to see me of course."

Zak laughed. "Don't flatter yourself," he said with a smile, hoping Wadi would pick up on his sarcasm. "Our airship was hit over Indonesia and we ended up having to land here. We were actually on our way to Weird World."

"Weird World? Isn't that where that loathsome Argost lives? Why are you going there?"

"Argost is back, Wadi." Despite Wadi's surprised gasp, Zak continued, "He has Kur powers again and he wants to kill me as well as my family." As he said these words, the effect of them seemed to dim. It felt good to release his problems and to relay them to someone else.

Wadi could only gape at Zak. She opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, but then closed it. After thinking some more about her choice of words, she said, "Zak... that's terrible... I'll help you stop Argost."

"Wadi, I can't ask you to do that for me. This man isn't afraid to kill anyone that gets in his way," Zak said quietly. It was a horrible thing to say, but it was the truth nonetheless.

"I want to help you, Zak. It's not like I haven't seen what Argost is capable of, you know," Wadi retorted, recalling the time her, Zak, and Ulraj had almost died thanks to the cruel Yeti.

Zak sighed exasperatedly. "Alright, if you want to help, you can help my parents repair the airship. We need to get out of here as fast as we can."

"Why? Is something wrong?" Wadi asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

"Argost has my Uncle Doyle at Weird World and we have to get him out before anything bad happens to him," Zak said while avoiding Wadi's eyes.

Sensing heavy tension, Wadi said, "Is that why you're puberty's nowhere near me today?"

Zak tried not to smile, but wasn't doing that great of a job. Wadi grinned herself and turned to face the airship. "So, you said you were hit?"

"Yeah, we were. By Argost's assistant Munya."

"I can find my father and some of the other villagers. I think we'll be able to help out," Wadi waved back at Zak over her shoulder and headed off in the direction of her village. Zak stared after her, almost as if in a trance.

"Despite your mood, you're still better at this than your father ever was, kiddo."

Zak whipped his head around to find his mother, leaning up against the airship. "Mom! How long have you been watching?"

"I think I came in right before Wadi said she wanted to help you," Drew chuckled.

"I don't want her to come with us," Zak said flatly.

"Hon, I think if she wants to come along, you should let her. It's not your say, anyways. You can't protect her from something if she knows the risks and is still willing to chance them," Drew said as she put her arm on Zak's shoulder.

"Mom, she can't come along! Argost could kill her!"

"Argost could kill all of us, Zak. If we have more people with us, then we'll have a better chance at stopping that madman."

"If we have more people with us, there'll be a better chance of people dying!"

"If we have enough people, we can overpower Argost!"

Zak and Drew stared at each other's eyes. Both pairs were blazing with resolve, and only one could come out the victor.

"Fine. She can come," Zak mumbled.

From behind him he heard Wadi's voice, "I knew you would see it my way!"

Drew smiled broadly and turned to help again with the airship. Zak glared at Wadi, but it quickly faded as he noticed that more people were with her. "These are the best repairers in the village. Hopefully they can help out with your airship. I've told them the story and some want to come along to help!" A couple of the villagers waved to Zak and he waved back, feeling a bit awkward.

The repairmen and women went off to help with the airship, leaving Zak and Wadi to stand and watch. Neither one was gifted with the ability to handle technology.

As they stood in awkward silence, the minutes droned on. The sounds of machinery and tools against the airship's metal hull were not loud enough to be deafening, but it was still loud enough to be annoying.

"Maybe you could show me my room inside the airship, Zak?" Wadi finally broke the silence, nearly having to shout above the noise.

Zak suppressed his anger at having lost his argument, but he obliged. He led Wadi to the airship ramp and the two entered. With Wadi right behind him, Zak led the way through the airship until he reached extra room a little ways down the hall from his own. He opened up the door and said, "Well, here it is. A little basic, but it is an extra room."

The room had white walls with a beige-colored carpet and a queen-sized bed with a comforter that was light brown in color. It faced a wide window that now provided a view of the hot, desert sand outside.

"I think it's perfect," Wadi gave Zak a smile, hoping it would make him feel better for the rather mediocre accommodations. She walked from one side of the bed to the other, examining everything in sight, before finally settling down to sit on the bed.

"Are you sure your father is okay with you coming along?" Zak asked.

"In case you didn't notice, he was one of the repairmen I brought," Wadi said teasingly. "He'll be coming along too."

"I don't know if we have enough extra rooms for everyone, but I guess some can sleep out in the living room," Zak mused.

"Zak," Wadi said while motioning for him to take a seat beside her. "You don't have to do this alone. You of all people should know that." Zak didn't answer. "You have friends and family. You even have people that have only seen you willing to help. We all want to stop Argost, especially after what he almost did to the Earth."

As he sat with his hands folded on his legs, Zak became aware of Wadi's tries to inconspicuously move closer to him. Deciding it was better to at least make an attempt to say something instead of nothing at all, Zak lifted his head to look at Wadi. It didn't take him long to realize how close Wadi's face was to his. The boy felt clueless.

Zak stared as Wadi's face inched closer and closer to his. He watched her eyes close, and the thought suddenly struck him.

Butterflies erupted in Zak's stomach. Despite the screaming voice in his head telling him to stop, he leaned in towards Wadi and slightly tilted his head…

"Ahem!"

Wadi and Zak jumped at the noise. Both turned to look towards the door to see Fisk standing in the doorway.

"Fisk!" Zak yelled.

The Fiskerton Phantom giggled, pointed two fingers at his eyes, and then pointed one at Zak and Wadi, both of whom avoided Fisk's gaze, feeling slightly embarrassed. Fisk smiled mischievously and waved before walking leaving the doorway.

Wadi smiled sheepishly at Zak. She took a step towards the door, but before leaving, she gave Zak a quick peck on his cheek. Zak listened to her footsteps grow fainter as she walked down the hallway. Once the shock and anxiety cooled down, Zak's first thought was that having Wadi along for the fight wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

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All I can say is... :D... Except :D is not really a word.... It's more of an emoticon... So I'm not saying anything... When in reality I... You get the point. Thanks for reading and please leave a review!


	8. Gaud

Hmm... I'm running out of things to say... Maybe I should just put the regular disclaimer here? Yes... I believe that would work... So! In that case, I don't own the Secret Saturdays!

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Even with blackmailing gold, Fisk didn't make any mention of his finding of Zak and Wadi. Although the question burned inside Zak of why Fisk hadn't mentioned it to either of his parents, he thought it was best not to bring it up.

Wadi, like Fisk, hadn't said anything since either. However, she had taken to not communicating with Zak at all. This transformed their awkward times together into, if possible, even more uncomfortable situations.

The day wore on while the repairers from the village, Doc, and Drew all worked hard to repair the hull of the airship. They needed to get it done as quickly as possible so that they could head off to Weird World and rescue Doyle. Zak usually sat in the sand watching them since he had nothing better to do. He hoped they would get done soon as the thought of his uncle being in Weird World with Argost never left his mind.

Although the two hadn't said a word to each other since they were in the airship, Wadi had sat down next to Zak on the desert sand. He tried his best not to look at her, but he couldn't help throwing subtle sideways glances. She had never taken her eyes off the workers since she had sat down and Zak was beginning to wonder if she really did know she was looking at him, but just choosing not to interact.

Time dragged on and with each passing minute, Zak grew increasingly worried. The airship needed to get done soon and before Argost did anything too rash. Time was ticking by and it was definitely of the essence.

Finally, at around sunset, everyone began to climb down the airship. Doc and Drew thanked all of them until only about five were left. Wadi stood up off the ground and went to talk to her father, Maboul. Zak guessed that he was going to come along with the Saturdays to battle Argost, but he was surprised when Maboul shook his parents' hands and walked in the direction of the village.

Five villagers remained, standing, leaning, or sitting around the airship. One of them, a man with a handsome face and a stubbly chin, turned away from his fellow villagers and turned to talk with Doc and Drew. Zak stood up and went to stand by his parents as to get a better idea about what was going on.

"Hello, Doc and Drew Saturday. My name is Emir, and we hope that we can be of assistance in stopping this madman, V.V. Argost," the man explained. His accent was extremely evident in his voice, but his English was surprisingly good.

"We don't know how we can thank you and the others for helping us out like this," Drew held out her hand for Emir to shake it.

"It was more than we could've asked for," Doc agreed, as he also shook Emir's hand.

Emir waved his hand as if it was nothing at all. "We prefer peace over bowing down to a man who controls animals," he joked. He noticed Zak standing slightly behind his parents and said, "Ah, this must be your son, Zak! I am Emir; very nice to meet you." Zak also shook Emir's hand before the man turned to the other four villagers.

"Let me introduce you to everyone here," he said, motioning at everyone.

"Oh please, Emir. We're perfectly capable of introducing ourselves!" A woman, who looked to be in her early twenties and was rather short, stepped forward. "I am Basimah, Emir's cousin. Basie for short," she said, grinning happily. Basie turned to those standing behind her and motioned two forward.

A girl that was around Zak's age stepped up to the plate. "I am Alima, Basie's sister," she stated quietly, holding out her hand.

"Coman, Basie and Alima's brother," the boy next to Alima stated humbly. He looked about thirteen or fourteen.

As each one introduced themselves, Doc, Drew, and Zak shook their hands. There was just one left who didn't seem too keen on making themselves known…

"Ain! Get over here, don't be shy!" Basie called out. The smallest of the five awkwardly stepped towards the Saturdays. She stared at the ground and didn't say a word. "That's no way to treat people! Say 'hi'!" Basie insisted.

Ain seemed to tense up, but she spoke in a soft voice, "My name is Ain and I am Emir's sister." The girl was younger than everyone else, most likely no older than eleven. This was immediately picked up by Doc and Drew who met each others' eyes and then quickly looked back to the helpers.

"Nice to meet you all," Doc smiled.

"We'll show you your rooms on the airship and I'll cook up something for dinner. We're going to head off to Weird World first thing in the morning," Drew explained.

Zak felt like he had just ran into a brick wall. "In the morning?" he asked angrily.

Drew's face showed sympathy, but she stuck by her decision. "Your uncle's a strong man, Zak. It wouldn't do him or us any good if we weren't prepared."

Zak opened his mouth to argue, but he felt a hand rest on his shoulder. He turned only to be surprised. Wadi stood next to him, shaking her head. "She's right, Zak."

Fisk nodded his head in agreement and directed Zak into the airship, despite many protests from the latter. The rest followed suit, heading up the ramp and inside the airship.

Drew and Doc took the five villagers on a tour of the parts of the airship that they would need for the night. Zak, followed closely by a worried Fisk, went straight to his room. After the door closed, Zak flopped down on his bed. Thoughts ran through his head, all about how Doyle was faring in the insane Argost's home.

Zak buried his face in his pillow. Losing all track of time, he couldn't help but let his mind wander to his uncle. If only they could go right now. Who knew what Argost was doing?

The boy jumped as he heard a soft knocking on his door. "Come in," he mumbled into his pillow.

He heard the door open, someone's footsteps, and the door close. "Hi, kiddo."

Anger quickly flared up inside Zak's chest as he realized it was his mother. It died down again as he thought of Wadi's words after his mother said they would have to wait the night out.

"Mind if I sit down?" Drew asked softly.

"No," Zak replied without bothering to lift his head up.

"Listen, I know you're upset that we're waiting until morning, but-,"

"No, I understand why."

Drew stared at the back of Zak's head in astonishment, but quickly recovered. "I'm sorry we have to wait. I would love to march in there and rescue your uncle, but you and I both know it won't be that easy."

"Yes Mom, I know," Zak said through his teeth. He was already annoyed that they had to wait, and it didn't help that his mother was in his room, reminding him of the fact.

"Alright," Drew responded, staring down at the floor. "I'll have your father come get you whenever dinner's ready?"

"Sure."

Drew stood up and stared at her son. She sighed to herself and headed towards the door. Before she left, a sudden thought entered her mind. Hopefully it would lighten the mood a bit…

"By the way, you might want to find a more private place to kiss... I mean… spend time with Wadi." With that said, Drew walked out of Zak's bedroom with a mischievous smirk.

Zak's head shot up from his pillow as the door closed. He rolled over and sat up, glaring at Fisk accusingly.

"You told!"

Fisk giggled, but quickly stopped at Zak's mutinous expression. He smiled guiltily and quickly backed out of the room. Zak threw his pillow, but the door closed before it could reach Fisk.

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I know this chapter wasn't very exciting, and I apologize. However, the next chapter won't be as dull! Thanks for reading, and please leave a marvelous review!


	9. Humgruffin

First of all, I would love to thank all of those that have reviewed, favorited, and added my story to their alerts lists. It's everyone's support that supports authors! Without further ado, I proudly present to you the next chapter of Rebellion's Rise! (Oh... and I don't own any of the Secret Saturdays characters... although I wish I did :/ )

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Doyle sat in the corner of his dark, dreary cell, trying to locate some way of getting out. Luckily, Argost had not come to see him since throwing him into this prison, but Munya had not moved from his post outside the door.

There was one window, but it was too high for Doyle to reach. Even if it was lower, there was no way he would be able to fit through it. Besides the grimy window, there was a single, bare light bulb providing a very little amount of light.

No means of escape were in sight, except the cell's heavy door. Munya, being the faithful henchman he was, guarded the door as if his life depended on it. Knowing Argost, Munya's life did depend on it. Doyle could always try and make a run for it if the door was ever opened, but he wasn't too sure he could handle Munya too well or quickly without his equipment. This was definitely not going to be easy.

Of course, he always had his family to trust and depend on, but who knew when they would come?

Munya had remained robustly indifferent to any and all of Doyle's randomly thrown insults ever since he was locked up in his godforsaken cell. The man's temper had barely gone down as the hours passed by, and it would not for a long while if he remained trapped.

Not once did he feel afraid of what Argost was planning. Doyle had anger instead of dread. He sighed in irritation, stretching his legs out in front of him. Argost had made sure nothing, not human nor cryptid, could escape his homemade cells. Even if Doyle did have his equipment, it would not have as simple as blasting open the door. The thing was made of reinforced titanium and his explosives did not pack a powerful enough force to dent it, let alone destroy it.

With resentment and resign displayed on his face, Doyle let his head fall back against the cold and harshly hard wall. He thought of his family. Although it was only a couple years ago, it seemed like he had known them all forever. They had been through both bad and good times together. Doc, despite showing hostility at first, had grown on Doyle and now the two accepted each other as equals and friends. Drew, although she could get on Doyle's nerves, was his sister, and he loved her in that warm family way. That left Zak. Doyle liked to think of Zak as his protégé, no matter what Doc and his sister thought of his unconventional training methods.

Doyle found tranquility just by thinking of the word 'family' and what it meant to him. He knew they would come for him and stand by his side to pay Argost back for all the cruelty and pain he had caused so many people, especially Drew and Doyle himself.

Anger flared up inside of Doyle at the thought of Argost's wrongs, but he tried to keep his temper under control. Screaming insults at Munya was getting him nowhere and he needed his energy if ever a chance did open for his escape. Doyle decided, against his better judgment, to close his eyes and try and fall asleep. There was nothing better or else to do, and soon Doyle had reached the expanses of dreams.  
Munya stood his ground outside the cell, even though he heard what he assumed to be Doyle snoring. He had chores to do around the mansion, but he knew he would be in serious trouble if Doyle somehow did manage to get out.

As if in response to the man's thoughts, he heard his master's quiet footsteps echoing on the hard floor of the hallway. "Munya," the Yeti called out, "I need inside this cell here to see our ever so charming guest. Would you mind accompanying me as to make sure he does not try anything too rash?"

With a grunt of agreement and understanding, Munya lifted the heavy bar on the cell door. He pushed the door open, first letting his master enter. He followed behind, not bothering to close the door behind him. He would be ready if Doyle made an attempt to escape.

Argost's face involuntarily twisted into one of disgust as he approached his sleeping captive. He kicked Doyle's foot, waking him.

Doyle jerked awake and looked around with a disoriented expression on his face. Too soon, he realized where he was. He wished he could go back to his dream, back into the living room of the airship, together with his family again. Doyle glared up at Argost and realized that fulfilling his dream wasn't going to be so easy. With a grimace, Doyle spoke, "What do you want, Argost?"

"You are so brusque, aren't you?" Argost said, adapting his trademark smug smirk. Doyle didn't retort, so Argost continued, "I thought I would share with you the itinerary of the last day of your life."

Argost smiled arrogantly when Doyle's eyes reflexively widened.

"That's right, Mr. Blackwell. Despite my love for my wonderful abode, I've found somewhere that would suit my needs and desires much better than this place. We'll be gone by tomorrow afternoon and I figured, why not go out with a bang?"

"You're going to blow up your mansion?" Doyle asked with surprise evident in his voice.

"Yes, my dear man. However, it is not just my mansion that will be blown to smoldering smithereens, but you and your precious family as well," Argost said casually as he folded his hands in front of him.

Doyle cursed under his breath. He tried to hold Argost's sadistic, demented gaze, but he couldn't. He found himself muttering, "You really are insane."

"Munya has programmed the bomb to go off tomorrow. You've already lost four hours, so that leaves you with just twenty. Unless you and the Saturdays are magicians, I sincerely doubt that you will be able to escape by four in the evening tomorrow. Au revoir, my good sir."

As Argost and Munya turned to leave, the realization of what the villain had said washed over Doyle. In pure fury, he pushed up off the ground and charged at Argost. Taken by surprise, Argost was not ready for the impact. Doyle crashed into the Yeti, causing him to topple to the ground. Munya, also unprepared, could only stand as his master fell.

Taking advantage of the bedlam, Doyle made a beeline for the open door. He made a left turn and sprinted down the hallway, just as Munya shot silk at the escapee. Doyle had moved out of the way when he turned, so the silk stuck on to the wall across from the cell. He glanced over his shoulder to see if he was being followed, but it didn't matter. The thought blazoned into his mind was to make sure his family wasn't inside the mansion when the bomb went off.

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Mmm... This is getting intense... Thanks for reading and please leave some feedback to help me improve! I'll get the next chapter written and posted as soon as possible!


	10. Invincible

Mmm, may I say this chapter was very entertaining to write and I hope that you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Please, enjoy!

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Not in the mood to entertain, Zak sat down at the table his parents usually used for conferences. The villagers sat down around the table as well, sitting close by one another. Wadi sat next to Zak, but did not talk to him. Instead, she directed her attention to Alima, the girl sitting on the other side of her.

Zak leaned forward, resting his chin in his hand. Valuable time was passing, and it was being wasted. Fisk pulled out the chair next to Zak and sat, waiting for dinner to be brought out. The group only had to wait a couple more minutes before Doc and Drew entered the room, each skillfully carrying a couple trays apiece. The two carefully placed them on the table, making sure not to accidentally knock over any of the already-placed silverware.

Drew sat down next to Fisk and, before sitting, Doc motioned for everyone to help themselves to whatever they liked. Zak, knowing the world of trouble he would be in if he didn't, waited until their guests were done filling their plates. He then proceeded to take a couple slices of meat loaf, some spoonfuls of steaming mashed potatoes, and ladle gravy over them.

As he began to eat his mashed potatoes, Drew spoke.

"We wanted to have this dinner not only to get to know everyone here a bit better, but to also discuss our infiltration of Weird World."

"Last time we went, we weren't discreet in the slightest. However, this time around, we want to use stealth to our advantage," Doc explained.

"So should we split up?" Emir asked eagerly.

"NO!" Doc and Drew shouted together.

Their guests looked taken aback by the sudden outburst. They stared at Doc and Drew in shock, waiting to be filled in.

Doc was the one to answer everyone's question as Drew placed a steady hand on top of his. "In our first visit to Weird World, we had forty-eight others with us. It was my idea to split up, and because of my stupidity, only seven of us made it out, including Drew and myself."

Zak continued eating, but he stared down at the table, not wishing to meet anyone's eyes. He had heard the story before, and each time, he had always heard that slight hint of remorse and sorrow in his father's voice. Doc blamed himself for the deaths of forty-three people. Zak knew that he could never fault his father for something that couldn't have been helped.

Drew cleared her throat and continued the planning, "We will stick together in that horrible mansion. Now, there's an underground entrance close by, so we can use that to sneak in undetected."

The villagers around the table nodded their agreement. No one had anything to argue about, so they remained silent, waiting for either Doc or Drew to continue. Neither had anything to say.

"That's it?" Emir asked quite suddenly. "That's all you have to tell us? You expect us to go into a madhouse where people have died?"

"We warned you of the risk, Emir. I told you that people have died," Doc said, keeping his calm demeanor. He looked as if he wanted to say something more, but he didn't add on.

Basie shot a warning glance at her cousin before she spoke up, "I think what he's trying to ask is what 'will we be up against'?"

"Argost's house doesn't have a set thing to watch out for. We've faced things from Flashlight Frogs to Jinshin-Mushi. Argost even has a Peluda wandering around," Drew explained. Everyone except the Saturdays looked clueless. Upon their expressions, Drew added, "The point is, we don't exactly know what we're up against."

Zak felt Wadi shift nervously in her seat. She wasn't one to show fear easily, but Zak felt the need to protect her… to make sure that Argost didn't hurt her…

He didn't quite understand this feeling. Zak had felt it before. Any time he was around Wadi and they had to do something dangerous, the need to protect her from everything always sprang up, but it was always slight. They hadn't even infiltrated Weird World and the feeling had reared itself up, stronger than ever. What did it mean?

Doc and Drew were talking to everyone again, but Zak didn't listen. He wanted to know what this feeling was and why it had sprung up all of a sudden. Once he finished his mashed potatoes, he set his fork down and feigned listening to the plans. They were practically the same as the last time the family had went into Weird World.

This waiting was driving Zak insane. Why did they have to stay the night? Who knew what Argost was doing to Doyle? Zak began to subconsciously drum his fingers on the table in his anticipation. No one seemed to notice except Basie, who quickly looked at him and gave him a sort of knowing smile. Zak didn't know what she was trying to convey to him, but he was in no mood to hear of how he should just be patient. He hoped this waiting was driving his parents crazy too; he hoped they felt the way he did.

In what seemed like hours, but was really only about twenty minutes, the people around the table all started to stand up and head to their rooms to rest up for the next day. Doc and Drew bustled back and forth between the conference table and the kitchen, carrying plates and utensils. Zak, feeling more and more worried by the second, stood up from his chair and walked towards his bedroom. If he got to sleep now, the time from now until morning would hopefully pass quickly. For the first time since they left Doyle, Zak wanted the time to pass quickly.

Zak headed down the hallway to get to his bedroom, only to find Basie waiting. Thinking that she was waiting for someone to come out of the bathroom, he was surprised when she stopped him.

"Zak, can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked in her usual cheery tone.

Astonished, Zak stopped and said, "Sure, Basie." He didn't know much about Basie, but she was obviously comfortable around anyone, no matter how awkward the other person felt.

"Whenever Wadi had come to the village and told everyone what happened, Emir and I could not just let you leave without any help. Of course my brother and sister and Emir's sister had to come along too, since they felt the same way."

Completely puzzled, Zak didn't respond. He could only listen as Basie went on.

"We all want to help. We promise that we will get your uncle back safe and sound," Basie smiled reassuringly at Zak.

Despite himself, he couldn't help but smile back. "Thanks Basie. Could you tell everyone else how much it means to us?"

"No problem," Basie smiled again. "Get some rest. From what your mom and dad said, you'll need it."

Zak watched Basie walk the way he had just came. He stood rooted to the spot, unsure of what had just happened. Finally, he turned towards his bedroom door and went inside, only to find somebody else to talk to.

"I was starting to wonder if you were going to go to sleep at all tonight."

Zak flicked the nearby light switch on, brightening the room. Wadi was sitting on his bed again, apparently waiting for him to sit by her. Zak didn't answer her, so she stared concernedly at him. "Zak, are you alright? You haven't said one word to me since this afternoon."

Wadi's caring face broke Zak's silence. "I'm sorry Wadi, I've just been worried all day. Argost is a madman who's willing to do anything. I'm scared for my uncle."

"You heard Basie. We will get your uncle back."

"How can you be so sure?"

Wadi sighed. It wasn't in disgust, but it seemed to be in sympathy. "It was about five years ago when our village was battling another. The enemy snuck in during the night when everyone was sleeping. We tried to rebound and fight back, but several of ours… It was too late for them."

Zak looked down at his feet, feeling slightly embarrassed. Wadi hardly talked about sensitive topics like this, but she seemed at ease now.

"In that attack, Basie, Alima, and Coman as well as Emir and Ain lost their parents. Basie and Emir have been taking care of their siblings ever since and the two of them will do everything they can to help others avoid pain and suffering."

"That's terrible," Zak said softly. From the way Basie and Emir acted, he would've never guessed what they had been through.

"So that is how I can be so sure, Zak Saturday." She paused for a moment to simply stare at Zak's face. "And I want to give you my own promise that we will get your uncle back, safe and sound."

Slowly and unexpectedly, she leaned in towards Zak and before either knew what was happening, their lips met. Fireworks exploded inside Zak's chest, all thoughts had fled from his mind, and the only thing he knew was that this was the most wonderful thing he had felt.

Wadi, wanting to gauge Zak's reaction, broke the kiss, only to find their lips together once more as Zak returned the affection.

The two sat there, locked together for seconds, minutes, hours, days. Finally, they broke apart, each slightly out of breath. "I'm keeping you to that promise," Zak whispered.

"I knew you would."

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So... heh... What did you guys think? I'm feeling rather... mischievous after that. Please, share your thoughts in a review and thanks for reading!

Also, just a quick thanks to those that have favorited and added this to their alert lists as well as those that have reviewed! We've hit the 1,000 mark for reads! It wouldn't have been possible without all of you!


	11. Jactancy

I'm so sorry that I couldn't get this chapter out sooner! I'll try my best not to let it happen again!

I would like to take this chance to thank those that take the time to read, review, favorite, and add this story to their alerts. You are the ones that keep this story going! I won't keep blabbering on like this, so please enjoy!

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Zak had an easier time falling asleep than he had anticipated. In what seemed like only a few minutes, he was pulled from his dreams as his father shook him awake.

"Zak, we have to get ready to leave. Get dressed and get your claw."

"The claw? I haven't used it since Argost took my Kur powers!" Zak mused.

"Your mother and I were thinking it could help you out, even if you don't have your powers any more," Doc explained. "Especially in a situation like this."

Zak grinned enthusiastically at the thought. It had been years since he had used the claw and he was eager to have the chance to use it again. The claw had been his lifeline in many situations, from dodging subway trains to fighting Argost. Once again he would have his trusty claw in his hands, ready to use in dangerous situations.

"I thought you might like that idea," Doc chuckled at Zak's grin. "Alright, start getting ready. When you're finished, meet us all in the cockpit. We're leaving in fifteen minutes."

Nearly leaping from bed, Zak dashed around his bedroom, finding clothes for him to wear. He searched through his bureau until he found the one shirt that he felt he felt almost obligated to wear. Silently thanking his parents for buying him a bigger size for Christmas, Zak pulled on his favorite orange shirt with a serpentine 'S' on the front, complete with long, black sleeves. It didn't quite have the nostalgic feel Zak wanted to feel, but his old shirt wouldn't fit him any more.

After slipping into a pair of khaki pants and a comfortable pair of tennis shoes, Zak stepped in front of his mirror and gave a poor attempt at tidying his now shoulder-length hair. His mom was usually constantly nagging him about getting a haircut, but Zak would only have his bangs trimmed to keep them out of his eyes. Once only a few seconds had passed, Zak gave up and left his room to head for the cockpit.

As Zak stepped into the room, everyone turned to look at him. Drew and Doc had brought in chairs for everyone to sit in for the ride. Basie smiled sweetly and said, "Good morning," but that felt like nothing compared to the energetic wave Wadi gave him. A huge, goofy smile immediately spread over Zak's face, but he quickly tried to hide it. Wadi giggled behind her hand and turned back around.

"Alright, we're headed out now," Drew said, as she turned around from the airship's controls.

The doors behind Zak opened up and Doc stepped inside the room carrying a plate of pancakes and bacon with a glass of orange juice. "Here Zak," he said as he carefully stepped towards his son. "Eat up before we get there."

Zak took his breakfast and sat in an empty seat next to Wadi. As he ate his food, he absentmindedly looked at the large screen in the front of the airship, not really taking in anything around him. Although his kiss had only been hours ago, the elation had ended and the gnawing anxiety was back.

Wadi occasionally glanced over at Zak with a worried expression on her face, but she never said anything and she would always quickly look away. With her hands clasped around her yo-yo, she looked straight ahead at the screen, but, much like Zak, didn't register what was going on.

Fisk, Komodo, and Zon sat together behind everyone, watching with interest and maybe even a slight hint of apprehension themselves. They hadn't exactly approved of everyone from Wadi's village quite yet, although they saw no reason to doubt them.

Basie and Emir were in a deep conversation with Drew about the plans to infiltrate Weird World. Alima and Coman sat on either side of Ain, holding the youngest girl's hands. They all seemed to know and respect the dangers of Weird World, but they were still willing to come along, rescue Doyle, and defeat Argost.

Despite the room's resonating fear, there was a strong sense of togetherness. Only a few people felt it as it brought everyone closer. Doc had definitely sensed that it increased once Zak had entered the room and Basie was just always so keen to pick up on these things. Wadi could only think about how worried Zak must be and what could possibly be so bad at Weird World to be the cause and Drew was too busy talking over the plans to notice. Emir was engrossed in conversation with Drew whereas Alima and Coman only cared that their little cousin was shaking like a leaf. Ain felt the warmth of the togetherness and the feeling of protection given off by her nearby cousins, but she did not say a word.

Zak picked at his last pancake with his fork, not entirely sure that his already uneasy stomach would be able to handle another bite. He set his fork down and drained the last bit of his orange juice. Fisk took the plate from Zak and hurriedly took it to the kitchen.

Without something distracting him, Zak's mind wandered back to his uncle. Would they get to him before Argost did anything drastic? Or was it already too late? He tried shaking the latter thought from his mind. In a place like Weird World, the only full-proof plan available was one of Doyle's favorites: improvise.

"I'm going to land the ship here, Drew," Doc's words brought Zak's mind crashing back down. They were near Weird World, minutes away from infiltrating it again. They would soon be inside the underground entrance to Weird World, trying to enter the mansion without being detected.

Without a word from anyone, the airship touched the ground. Doc activated a recently installed cloaking device before turning to face everyone else. "First of all, thank you everyone for coming with us. We need all the help we can get."

"Secondly," Drew picked up, "The most important thing, besides rescuing Doyle, is to stick together."

Everyone nodded their understanding. As Doc and Drew led the way out of the cockpit, Ain gave a small whimper. Basie heard and with a look of pure determination, bent down to talk to the small girl. "I won't let that madman hurt you, Ain. I promise."

"Thanks," Ain whispered. Coman and Alima let go of Ain's hands and followed Doc, Drew, Emir, and Wadi out the door. Ain looked cautiously up at Zak as Basie took her hand. She gave a small, curt nod before walking out of the room.

Zak stood in one spot for a few moments. Ain's reassuring nod left no doubt in his mind that the group was in this together. He headed outside the door with Fisk, Zon, and Komodo and walked down the airship's ramp and into the crisp, morning air.

"Over here!" Doc motioned for everyone to follow him. He led everyone towards a creek where there was a large, round pipe leading into a grassy hillside. "This is how we got out last time," he mused to himself as he stood by the entrance of the pipe, waving everyone inside.

As the group walked through the pipe, Zak began to remember their last trip to Weird World. This was the pipe the octopus/crab-like cryptid known as a Migas propelled the Saturdays from once Argost had escaped. At the end of the pipe was a metal gate. Using the Battle Glove, Doc smashed the gate in one hand and easily tossed it aside.

Upon stepping inside, Argost's disembodied voice suddenly filled the chamber. "Greetings and bienvenue, my charming guests. I expected your pitiful rescue attempt, Saturdays, but I did not expect you to bring along friends. Ah well, luckily my shipment of Migas arrived last week."

The ethereal voice concluded, but Argost's unknown location was the least of everyone's worries. Octopus-like tentacles shot up from the water, followed quickly by three pairs of claws. Three angry Migas surfaced above the water, all scowling angrily at Weird World's intruders.

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This chapter seemed a bit odd as I was writing it. It's not easy writing about a large group and keeping everyone together! Oh well, what can you do? Anyways, thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a splendid review!


	12. Karyokinesis

I'm so so so soooooo sorry it took so long for me to update! School kinda got randomly and extremely busy, but I finally have this chapter done for everyone to read! So, without further ado, here you go!

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"Of course Argost has to have Migas just waiting for us," Drew mumbled to herself. Doc scoffed and charged at the cryptids, his Battle Glove raring to fight. Zak ran after his father, his claw already in his hand. Wadi stood behind for a couple seconds in her surprise. However, she saw the other villagers' faces and couldn't help but laugh. All five turned their gaze on her, clearly horrified at her reaction.

"They're used to this kind of thing," she explained quickly. She grasped her yo-yo before running off to face the Migas.

Emir grinned and shook his head. He gave Basie a quick look before pulling a short sword from his belt that was hidden by his shirt. Basie followed suit, only she was equipped with two daggers. Emir pushed his bangs out of his eyes before jumping into the midst of battle. Basie wasn't so quick. She turned to talk to Alima, Coman, and Ain.

"Alima, Coman, watch Ain for me," she commanded.

"Right," Alima and Coman answered simultaneously.

Basie gave each of them a quick hug before rushing off to help.

Before she was gone thirty seconds, Alima turned to her brother and cousin. "I'm not going to stand back and watch all of this. Let's go, Coman."

Coman laughed and nodded. "Let's do it, then!"

"I'm coming too," Ain said quietly and unexpectedly.

This simple statement was enough to stop the brother and sister in their tracks.

"What?" Alima asked, clearly shocked.

"I said I'm coming too." Ain repeated, sounding stronger this time.

"Ain! Basie told us to watch you! You're not going to fight those things!" Coman said.

"Then you have to stay here and watch me," Ain shrugged.

"You're learning from us, aren't you?" Alima joked. "Fine, just be careful."

"What if she gets hurt, Alima?" Coman argued.

Before Alima could answer, there was a loud booming noise. All three turned to see that Doc had managed to connect his Battle Glove with one of the Migas, sending it flying into one of the cavern walls.

"I need one of those," Coman muttered.

"Come on before they take out the rest!" Alima ordered. She sprinted towards the battle, closely followed by Ain and Coman.

There was a sudden shout as one of the Migas' tentacles wrapped around Wadi's arm. It lifted her high above the ground and towards the Migas' claws. Emir, being the closest, responded the quickest. He ran to the Migas' back and lifted his sword to stab the cryptid.

Zak, Drew, and Doc's collective shouts of 'NO!' echoed around the cavern. Emir stopped at the cries, only to be smacked in the stomach by another tentacle.

"We don't kill cryptids!" Drew shouted to Emir as she defended herself from a claw.

Emir sneered, but he brought his sword down to his side.

Zak glanced over to see why Emir had been so ready to kill the Migas. His eyes almost immediately found Wadi, still suspended in the air. An old plan came to him. It might be a bit harder now, but he still had to try.

"Fisk!"

The Fiskerton Phantom looked around at the sound of his name. He spotted Zak waving for him to come over. When he did, Zak asked, "Do you think you could still throw me?"

Fisk smirked mischievously and nodded. He carefully picked up Zak and got into a position to throw his brother up onto the Migas' back. Zak watched and waited for the opportune moment to land. When one opened he shouted, "FIRE!" and was soon flying through the air. In seconds, he had landed safely on the cryptid's back.

The thought that he did not have a plan didn't cross Zak's mind as he ran towards the Migas' eyes. Instinctively, he turned the claw in his hands so the side without the claw was facing the cryptid. When he was close enough, Zak brought the end straight into the cryptid's eye, causing it to roar in pain. The tentacle that held Wadi released her and she began to fall from a dangerous height.

"Fisk!" Zak shouted above the Migas' roars of pain. Fisk glanced up at Zak and then to the falling Wadi. With a shriek, he ran forward to catch Wadi. Zak sighed with relief when Wadi had safely landed in Fisk's arms. The reprieve was short-lived, however. No one in their right mind would enjoy getting jabbed in the eye, and the same applied for cryptids.

The Migas swatted at an unprepared Zak with one of its claws. Upon impact, Zak had the wind knocked out of him. He hadn't even realized he was falling until he heard several screams from below. Before his danger could register in his mind, he had landed on something moving. Zak rolled onto his stomach and recognized the loving Zon.

"Thanks, girl," he whispered.

Zon cawed happily and quickly brought Zak to the ground. As soon as he was safe, Drew ran over to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"Mom, I'm fine," Zak said. "Really."

Drew didn't say anything, but she didn't let go of her son. It wasn't until a Migas' claw flew directly at them that Drew moved. She pulled Zak along with her to dodge the claw and finally let go once the Migas had moved it away from them.

"Drew!" Doc called out.

With a fleeting look at her son, Drew ran off to her husband to see what he wanted.

Zak brought his attention back to the only Migas left standing. The one that Doc had hit into a wall was unconscious and the other one had fallen onto the ground and couldn't get up thanks to the efforts of the five villagers, who had started working on tackling the third and final Migas.

Wadi spotted Zak standing by himself. She ran over to him, asking a hurried, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. What about yourself?" Zak asked, more concerned for Wadi than himself.

With a small laugh, Wadi responded, "I'm okay, although I could use a shower. That thing is disgusting."

"I can imagine," Zak said with a smile.

Zak and Wadi stared at each other awkwardly for a few seconds before Argost's voice suddenly filled the cavern again.

"I'm surprised at how well you have fared, my guests. Unfortunately, I cannot let you out of here, but I have a couple more guests that would just love to make your acquaintance!"

An eerie mechanical sound brought everyone's attention to the stairs leading out of the cavern and into the main part of Weird World. A large gate was beginning to fall from the ceiling. If they didn't move, everyone would be trapped inside the cavern.

"MOVE!" Doc's booming voice sounded over the roars and screeches that announced that even more cryptids were arriving.

Everyone madly dashed for the closing gate. Zak was ahead of the group, leading the way. As they ran, he heard several people behind him crying out, but he didn't stop. He had to find his uncle.

When he got close enough to the gate, he dove underneath it and safely made it to the steps. Pushing himself up off the ground, he turned to watch what was going on behind him.

Wadi had dived under the gate right after Zak. Komodo easily crawled underneath the closing gate and Emir dived low underneath it. Ain, who had been right behind Komodo, quickly crawled beneath the gate. Drew rolled underneath it and turned to help her husband. As she reached her hand out, a cryptid swung its tail at Doc, knocking him backwards. The gate slammed down against the ground, preventing anyone else from getting by.

Zak looked past everyone inside the stairwell to see what had happened to Fisk, Basie, Coman, Alima, and Zon.

It was evident that Argost had released even more cryptids into the cavern in an attempt to stop everyone in their tracks. Fisk was helping a fallen Zon to her feet while Basie, Coman, and Alima stood in the center of the cavern, trapped by a circle of cryptids.

"Doc!" Drew called out to her husband.

"Stick to the plan, Drew!" Doc answered back as he fought off the cryptid that had held him back.

"What's 'the plan'?" Zak asked, still transfixed at the number of cryptids inside the small cavern.

"We're going to go get Doyle," Drew said simply. Komodo led the way up the stairs and everyone else took one last glance at those on the other side of the gate before following him up into Argost's home.

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So... I'm afraid that my little hiatus has interfered with the writing... What do you guys think? Let me know on how I can improve here! Thanks for reading and I hope to get the next chapter out much sooner!


	13. Lief

I would like to thank Dylexa for being the first to review the last chapter and the first to review after my little hiatus! Thanks so much! Well, I wanted to get this chapter out before this week got extremely busy (which it will tomorrow). So, please enjoy!

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Doc's worst fear had already been realized. The group of twelve had been split in half. Zak looked around him at everyone's expression. Ain was walking extremely close to her brother. She kept glancing back over her shoulder with a terrified expression on her face. Emir's face was set and he would not turn around to look back, even when someone's cry sounded from the cavern. Wadi couldn't help but look behind her whenever there were shouts. Drew kept her face forward, but Zak noticed she jumped slightly every time she heard someone yell behind her.

Zak only looked back whenever they reached the top of the steps. Their side wasn't faring well.

"Come on, Zak. We need to get going," Wadi said, slightly pulling on his arm. She glanced back herself, but quickly turned her head away and pushed open the trapdoor at the top of the steps. Everyone filed into the chamber after her.

Drew had the group stop so she could talk to them briefly about what awaited them further into the depths of Weird World.

"I know it's not something you want to hear, but Zak and I don't know what's waiting in this madhouse. From the two times I've been here, I've experienced totally different terrors. This is not going to be easy."

"We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we volunteered, Drew. Even the smaller ones did," Emir stated as he placed his hand on Ain's shoulder.

"I just thought I would warn you again," Drew said as she turned to lead the way out of the room. Zak knew she was referring back to the very first time her and his father had visited Weird World. So many lives were lost that day and the two of them wanted to keep that from happening again.

Zak followed after his mother with Wadi close at his side. "Hey Mom, how much do you think this place has changed since we were last here?" he asked as his eyes darted around to several suspicious spots on the walls that looked as if they would shoot traps out at any second.

"I guess we're going to find out," Drew said. She, too, was glancing around cautiously for any signs of traps. "Keep watch for any signs of Doyle."

Komodo began sniffing around for Doyle's familiar scent and the other five checked each and every cell they passed. After rounding several corners, Wadi pointed, not to one of the cells, but to the wall across from one. "Isn't that Munya's silk?"

Zak walked to it and looked at it closely. "Yeah, it is." He brought two fingers up to touch the stuff and said, "It's still sticky, too."

"Munya can't have shot it too long ago, then. The only reason I can think he had to shoot silk was to stop Doyle and there's no other signs of other silk here," Drew voiced her thoughts.

"So he's escaped?" Wadi asked.

"That's what it looks like," Drew responded. She stepped away from the wall. With Komodo at her side, she continued down the hallway. Zak chanced a quick glimpse at Wadi. Wadi herself had done the same and their eyes met. Both looked away quickly, feeling rather embarrassed. They fell into step behind Emir and Ain, each careful not to look at the other.

The six walked down the eerie hallway, making several turns along the way. After several minutes of walking, Zak sensed something was different about the place, something that was keeping them from finding Doyle.

Emir was the first to speak up, "Have we been-"

"Going around in circles?" Drew interrupted, sounding annoyed. "I think so. Argost must've changed Weird World since we've been here."

"How could he have just changed his house around?" Emir sounded unconvinced.

"He's Argost and this is Weird World. Who knows how he does it?" Zak answered, getting frustrated. They definitely had been going in circles for at least ten minutes and, so far, they hadn't found any trace of a way out of the loop.

Ain pulled on Emir's arm and said softly, "A maze?"

"I believe so," Emir said just as quietly.

"Strange. I would think Argost would simply want to kill us rather than have us running around in a maze," Drew said sarcastically. Wadi quickly began looking around as if something was going to come out that could kill them. Ain visually flinched at Drew's words.

"Once we find Doyle, we'll be able to deal with-"

There was a loud clanking noise and a cell door next to the group sprang open. Instead of revealing an empty cell, something resembling a battering ram rocketed out of the door and smashed into the wall opposite the door.

Zak only had enough time to catch a glimpse of the ram before he felt it smash against the side of the body. Instead of being crushed like he should've been, the wall across from him opened up and he was flung inside. From the force of the ram, Zak smashed into a solid wall and fell onto the ground. He pushed himself up and allowed himself to recover his bearings. As soon as he did, he stood up off the ground and the battering ram retracted back into the cell.

Drew, Emir, Ain, Wadi, and Komodo all stared, horrorstruck, at what had just happened. They watched the battering ram disappear back into the cell door and the door closed behind it. Zak walked forward and couldn't help but laugh at everyone's expression. However, when he went to climb out of the hole that had opened in the wall, it began to close before he could get through.

"ZAK!" Drew's scream broke the crushing silence. She reached out and tried to get her hand through the closing hole. Zak could only stand and watch as he watched everyone's faces disappear behind the stone wall. He was left standing in a hallway that looked identical to the one he had just been thrown out of. Only in this hallway, he was by himself.

* * *

Eight hours was all he had left. Eight hours until Weird World would be blown to smithereens. It had been twelve hours since Argost delivered the crushing news to Doyle, and he was no closer to finding a way out of Weird World. He wondered if his family had come to break him out. He sincerely wished that they hadn't. What if four o'clock came around and they were still inside?

No, he couldn't think of that now. He had to focus on finding his way out of what he now realized was a maze of hallways and cell doors. The time it took Doyle to figure out he was trapped in a maze made him feel ashamed.

His thoughts caused him to walk around with a dangerously lowered guard. In fact, he hadn't heard the footsteps until he had reached the intersection. With no opportunity to find a place to hide, Doyle darted around the corner and grabbed the person making the footsteps by the front of his shirt.

Zak and Doyle stood staring at each other for at least a minute before they realized who the other was.

"Uncle Doyle?"

"Mini-man!" Doyle immediately let go of Zak's shirt. A huge smile spread across his face, but it quickly faded as he asked, "Why are you alone?"

"It's Argost! He trapped Dad, Fisk, Zon, Alima-"

Doyle cut in, "Alima? Who's Alima?"

"We stopped at Wadi's village and five of the other villagers came along. Alima, Coman, and Basie are trapped with Dad against tons of cryptids. Then there's Ain and Emir, but they're with Mom, Wadi, and Komodo."

"Why aren't you with them?"

"Argost had this trap set up and sent me through a wall, so now I'm lost," Zak shrugged.

"Okay, maybe we can use that," Doyle stated. When Zak looked confused, he said, "I've been walking around here for hours and I haven't gotten anywhere. We need to get everyone else and get out as soon as we can."

"Uncle Doyle, we have to stop Argost!" Zak exclaimed.

"We're gonna have to worry about him later-"

"Argost can control cryptids again!"

"Zak! Argost had Munya set a bomb somewhere in this place!" Doyle nearly shouted.

The younger boy froze. "W-what?" he stuttered.

"It's supposed to go off at four. I've been wondering around for twelve hours and haven't made any progress on getting out!"

Zak could only gawk at his uncle. How low would Argost stoop? Sure he wanted revenge on him and his family, but he didn't make any change of plans when he saw the Saturdays brought others for help. Zak finally found his voice and said, "You said we could use something?"

Doyle looked at Zak as if he had grown another head. "Oh! Right. I want to try opening all the cell doors. Maybe we could find your little group."

"We should get started then," Zak nodded.

"Just be careful mini-man, I don't know what kind of crazy terrors Argost keeps in this horrible place..."

* * *

Geez... Chapter 13... Oh! If anyone hadn't noticed, I've been following a slight pattern where I'm trying to name each chapter with a letter of the alphabet in order. Without a prologue and the planned epilogue, this is the twelfth letter of the alphabet. Another chapter and we'll be halfway there! Thanks so much everyone for reading and sticking with the story for this long!


	14. Maleficent

Next chapter for everyone! A disclaimer belongs here, so... (enter disclaimer here). Things are starting to get exciting, don't you think? At least I hope that that's what you guys are thinking...

* * *

Drew, Wadi, Emir, Ain, and even Komodo stood, dumbstruck, staring at the solid wall that had swallowed Zak. No one spoke. The first to move was Drew. She stepped forward and placed her hand on the wall through which her son had disappeared.

"We should keep going," Emir said.

"What about Zak?" Drew whispered.

Emir stared at Drew in disbelief. "We're not going to get him back by trying to force our way through a solid wall!"

"What would you do if it was Ain that went through there?"

"I would try to find my way back to her!"

Drew glared defiantly at Emir, but she realized he was right. She broke their stare-down and hung her head. "All right. Let's go," she said.

Emir nodded and turned away from Drew. With Komodo at his side, the two began walking down the hallway. Ain and Wadi stayed behind to wait for Drew until she composed herself and followed after Emir.

* * *

"This is not looking good, Coman," Alima yelled over the sounds of the battle.

"There are just too many of them," Coman grimaced.

"Come on, Basie told us to keep moving!" Alima grabbed onto Coman's arm and pulled him out of the way of a charging cryptid with rather dangerous-looking horns.

"Why didn't she let us bring weapons?" Coman complained, as the brother and sister dodged the horned cryptid again.

"I am not sure."

"Well we can see how well that is doing us now!"

"How do you think the others are doing?" Alima asked, sounding a bit worried.

"I am sure they are doing okay. We cannot do anything for them now, Alima, so I think we should worry more about how we are going to get ourselves out of this," Coman gestured at the mob of cryptids that filled the cavern.

"Oh, fine."

The horned cryptid had gotten tired of the brother and sister and had moved on to take a drink of water. Coman sighed with relief, but the siblings' worries were far from over.

Doc was in the middle of a battle with a rather familiar cryptid. The Mamalambo had been in the large scale attack on New York City when the Nagas had set out to make Zak their leader. Doc remembered it vividly in his mind as one of the largest cryptids there and the one that could send electrical waves from its body to electrocute anyone who dared come close enough to it. Ever since the Saturdays faced the Mamalambo, Doc had never cared to face it again, yet here he was, face to face with the cryptid.

The Mamalambo frequently gave off electricity in an attempt to catch Doc off guard. However, the man had already learned the cryptid's telltale sign and knew exactly when to move out of its range. The Mamalambo would always stop all movement and roar loudly. These two actions revealed its attempt to electrocute anyone that was standing too close to it.

As Doc tried to think of some way to subdue the Mamalambo without hurting it, he unconsciously and steadily brought the cryptid closer and closer to Alima and Coman. The sister and brother had their backs turned to the Mamalambo and Doc; their concentration was devoted to finding a way out of the cavern. Doc tried to lead the Mamalambo into the water just as Alima and Coman turned and began to run pass the cryptid.

Everything happened so fast.

With startled cries, Alima and Coman stopped moving as soon as they took in the sight of the Mamalambo. Alima pulled her brother towards her, but they were in a danger zone. Frozen with fear, the siblings could only stare in horror as the Mamalambo stopped moving and opened its mouth to roar. Doc's good eye widened in surprise and, without much thought, he acted upon instinct.

Doc sprinted to Alima and Coman. He grabbed both of them by the scruffs of their necks. After lifting them both easily off the ground, he tossed the two of them away from the Mamalambo. At the moment the siblings left Doc's hands, the cryptid gave off its electric charge.

Alima and Coman skidded safely across the hard ground, out of the attack's range. Doc, however, was not so lucky. The electric charge connected with Doc's broad body. With a cry of pain, Doc fell onto the rocky ground. The charge only lasted for a few seconds before the Mamalambo ended it and stalked off from its enemy. With the threat removed, it could relax in peace, amidst all the noises of the other angry cryptids.

The two teenagers picked themselves up off the ground and turned to see their savior. It took almost a minute for the two of them to realize and understand what had happened, but when they did, a wave of anxiety came crashing down over both of them along with a crushing feel of guilt.

"Mr. Saturday?" Alima called out gingerly.

There was no response from the fallen man. With a swift, uneasy look at her brother, Alima cautiously approached Doc.

The man didn't stir when she approached. His chest was rising and falling in short, rapid bursts, though it did relieve Alima's main concern. "He is breathing really quickly and he is unconscious," she said, barely loud enough for Coman to hear. He looked around cautiously for any cryptid that might use him as a chew toy before running to his sister's side.

"He does not look good," Coman mused, noticing the burns left by the Mamalambo's attack. "What do you think we should do?"

As if on cue, Basie broke free from the mob of cryptids, her dark shoulder-length hair fanning out behind her. When she caught sight of Doc, her run faltered and she nearly stumbled forward, but in mere seconds she recovered and ran the rest of the distance to her siblings. Once she had reached them, she kneeled down beside Doc and quickly looked over him. "We cannot do anything right now. Besides, there are too many cryptids, or whatever it is they call those creatures, around."

"Should we get out of here?" Coman asked. Basie's eyes turned to meet her brother's eyes that were partially hidden with his shaggy bangs. The large, brown orbs betrayed his steady voice. They showed fear and apprehension as well as the need for directions. He was in no state to figure anything out for himself.

Basie nodded her answer. "Yes, we need to get out of here. There are too many of these things for us to handle. Moving Doc will not be easy," she acknowledged, glancing down at the unconscious man.

There was an animalistic cry and Fisk suddenly was sent sliding across the floor towards the four. He kept sliding until he was only a couple inches from Doc's unmoving form. Straightening out his limbs, the Fiskerton Phantom popped open one of his eyes, looking up into the faces of Basie, Coman, and Alima. He waved sheepishly, but stopped when their sullen faces became graver. Sensing something was wrong, Fisk let his head fall back on the ground and, upside down, he saw Doc.

"We are going to get out of here. Will you help us with Doc?" Basie asked seriously. Fisk nodded quickly and jumped to his feet. He put two of his fingers in his mouth and whistled. Within moments, Zon's form shot up from out of the mass of cryptids. She flew over to everyone and alighted next to Fisk.

"We have to go now!" Basie exclaimed, noticing the cryptids had caught on to where everyone was. She led the way over to the pipe through which they had come. Fisk hoisted Doc from the ground and ran after everyone else. They ran through the pipe, hoping that no cryptids were chasing after them.

* * *

"ARGOST!"

Zak jumped at his uncle's sudden outburst.

"WHERE ARE YOU, ARGOST?" Doyle screamed again. He had stopped in the middle of the hallway refused to move when Zak tried to urge him to keep going. "No, I will not keep going! If Argost wants us, he has to come get us!" he retorted.

"We have to find him ourselves, Uncle Doyle!" Zak argued.

"I've been wondering around these stupid hallways for twelve hours, mini-man! I'm not going to put up with this any more!" Doyle spoke through his teeth in pure rage. To Zak's horror, he began shouting again.

"WE'RE WAITING, ARGOST!" Doyle lifted his arms in submission. "WHERE ARE YOU, YOU COWARD?"

"Do you want to-" Zak started angrily. His question was cut short when a nearby cell door swung open and slammed against the wall. Two thick cords shot out of open cell and wrapped themselves around Zak and Doyle's upper bodies. Neither could fight the pull of the cords. They were pulled inside the cell but towards the back. Zak braced himself to be rammed into the wall, but this one opened up like the one he went through before. As soon as Zak and Doyle were through the wall, the cords let up and fell harmlessly to the ground. Both guys fell to the floor without the support of the cords.

"Greetings and bienvenue. I believe you called for me?"

Zak looked up only to see Argost standing above him, sneering cruelly.

* * *

So... What did you guys think of that one? Please review, I would love to know how I can improve this. Thanks for reading, and keep on the lookout for the next chapter!


	15. Nefandous

Please everyone, bear with these late updates. I'm really sorry about them! Thanks for those that have stuck with this story so far and I hope you stay on until the very end!

* * *

"Mr. Saturday, can you hear me?" Basie asked silently, lightly tapping Doc's shoulder.

Fisk and Zon had managed to open up the airship. They brought Doc inside and into the medical room, laying him down on one of the beds and propping him up. Now, Basie stood next to the man and her brother and sister stood a couple feet away.

Guilt was evident on Alima and Coman's faces, but they didn't say anything. They felt it was their faults that Doc was where he was now. Minutes passed in silence as Alima and Coman watched Basie examine Doc. Throwing a quick glance at her brother, Alima spoke up nervously, "Is he going to be alright?"

Basie let out a nervous sigh. "I am not certain." Suddenly, an idea hit her and her face lit up considerably. "Fiskerton, do you happen to know how the things in here work?"

In an apprehensive manner, Fisk shook his head.

The woman closed her eyes and nodded. Although her voice did not betray her worry, it was plainly written on her face. "I need to find Drew, then."

"We should get going then," Alima said as she turned to head out of the room.

"Alima, I said _I_ need to find Drew."

Alima turned on the spot, her eyes widened in surprise. "You are not letting us go with you?"

"No," Basie responded without hesitation. "It is much too dangerous in that nightmarish house."

"You want to go in there alone, Basie?" Coman asked quietly.

"Of course not, Coman, but I am not letting you two in there again. If this Argost had those creatures already waiting for us, I am afraid to find out what else he has in that place," Basie answered. She stared at Alima and Coman for a minute before averting her gaze. "I should be going."

"Basie, no! Not by yourself!" Coman exclaimed. Despite being eight years younger than his eldest sister, he had to look down at her to meet her eyes.

"You two are not going back in there," Basie said firmly. She turned to Fisk and asked, "Fisk, could you stay here with them to make sure they do not try to go back inside?"

Fisk let out a whimper, but nodded his head.

Something nudged Basie's hand and she looked down to find Zon staring up at her. "Do you want to come with me?" she asked.

"Basie you are not letting us go!" Alima cried out indignantly.

"This creature belongs to the Saturdays, not me," Basie said simply. With that, she walked out of the medical room and headed for the airship's ramp with Zon right behind her.

* * *

"Argost, you are one twisted monster," Doyle snarled with disgust.

"How kind of you to notice," Argost said with a malicious grin.

Doyle and Zak both made to get up, but the nearby Munya had anticipated this. He grabbed them by the collars of their shirts and held them away from Argost and up off the ground.

"Do something about those two, would you, Munya?" Argost said nonchalantly.

Munya grunted and obliged Argost's request. Keeping Doyle suspended in the air, he held Zak against the cold, stony wall and restrained him there with silk. Despite Doyle's verbal protests and struggles, he couldn't escape the same fate as his nephew.

"What do you say as to leaving them there?" Argost asked Munya, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Munya didn't respond and no one had expected him to. "Yes, I think that is a great idea myself. You see, if these two Saturdays are kept here, they cannot cause any more damage to my mansion nor can they let their precious friends and family know about the ever-constantly ticking bomb counting down until the time of their demise."

At his words, Zak and Doyle began struggling against the silk with newfound strength. If they didn't break free, they would be blown to bits.

"Munya, I request that you stay here and watch these two until I return for you just before the bomb is to go off. After all, this one escaped imprisonment once already," Argost said as he turned to head out the door, leaving Munya with no say in the matter.

* * *

"Wait," Drew nearly whispered. She held out her hand to keep the others behind her.

"With all due respect, you have been stopping us every five minutes and each time has been for nothing," Emir said stiffly; his patience was running thin. Ain looked up at him, annoyance written on her face. However, she wasn't annoyed at Drew, but Emir.

Without saying another word, Drew approached whatever she found to be suspicious. She unsheathed her Fire Sword and began tapping the wall with it. Wadi stood beside her and said, "Mrs. Saturday, what are you looking for?"

Unexpectedly, Drew lunged her Fire Sword into a crevice in the wall with all her might. "Got it!" she whispered excitedly.

Wadi and Ain looked deeply confused whereas Emir only seemed to be more annoyed. Komodo approached Drew and stared at the wall intently. "You see it too, don't you, Komodo?" Drew reached out her hand and rested it on Komodo's head for a few moments. She then held her sword's hilt with both hands and wrenched the sword from the wall. A couple pieces of rock fell from the wall easily, surprising Drew's small audience.

Drew repeatedly stabbed the wall, breaking off more pieces as she went along. "His house isn't just a maze," she said as she continued to work.

"Here, let me help," Wadi said, kneeling next to Drew. She began to pull out rocks from the wall, widening the gap in the wall. Ain glanced over at Emir who hadn't moved an inch since Drew stopped them. The girl glanced down at the ground for a moment before kneeling on Drew's other side. She began working alongside Wadi and Drew.

After about ten minutes, the three of them had managed to dig out a hole wide enough to get through the wall. Drew went through first, ready to find her brother and son. She wasn't expecting to walk right into Argost's living room.

Just as everyone had walked in, the front door banged open and Basie sprinted into the room. Her face brightened when she caught sight of the group, but it immediately fell into lines of worry.

"Mrs. Saturday, you need to come with me!" she gasped as she ran towards them.

"Basie?" Emir said in surprise.

"How did you get up here?" Wadi asked, equally as curious as everyone else was.

"That is not important right now," Basie hurriedly said. She was in such a hurry to get out her next words, that everyone needed a couple seconds to realize what she said, "Your husband is hurt severely, Mrs. Saturday!"

Drew stared down at the woman, her mouth open slightly. "Doc is what?" Basie opened her mouth to explain again, but Drew turned her head away and closed her eyes. "Never mind, Basie. Just take me to him, now." Basie turned and ran back out the open door with Drew right behind her and Komodo running alongside.

Surprisingly, Ain was the first to speak up after her, her brother, and Wadi were left in silence, "Should we go after them, Emir?"

Emir took some time to decide what to do. "Yes, I think we should." Although he didn't want to admit it he said, "We would not be able to survive this place without the Saturdays."

Wadi trailed behind the brother and sister, reluctant to leave the mansion without Zak.

* * *

Well, here's the next chapter for you all! Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a review! The next one should be up whenever I have a long enough time to work on it!


	16. Ostrichism

Wow, two chapters in one day! This story's flying by fast to me, but it's a lot of fun to write. I still don't own the Secret Saturdays, though. I'll let you know if I ever do! :P Well... Anyways, here's the next chapter!

* * *

Zak wasn't sure how many hours had passed since he and his uncle had been captured by Argost and Munya. No matter if it had been only a few minutes or a couple hours, any time spent hanging from a wall while there was a time bomb waiting to go off was too much.

He had stopped struggling against the silk, but Doyle refused to do so, although it didn't seem that he had gotten much farther than Zak. Nearly giving up all hope that they would be able to escape the bomb's explosion, an idea hit Zak. He gave his uncle a quick glance which went unnoticed. This couldn't wait. It had to be now or never.

"Munya?" Zak called out tentatively. Doyle immediately stopped struggling and stared at his nephew in confusion.

As Zak had expected, Munya paid no notice that his name had been called.

Doyle scowled and followed Zak's lead. "Hey, Spider-Man! Unless I'm deaf, I believe my nephew just called you!"

"Talking like that to him isn't going to help," Zak whispered. "Munya?" Zak tried again. "Aren't you tired of always doing Argost's dirty work? You could be doing so much more!"

At those words, Munya seemed to freeze up. Slowly, he turned his head around, wary of what these two would try to get him to do.

Zak suppressed a triumphant grin. He had gotten the half-man's attention, but he hadn't won the battle yet. "I bet Argost gets on your nerves, doesn't he? He treats you like filth, leaving you to do whatever he tells you to. Are you sure he'll come back for you?"

He wasn't sure, but Zak thought he saw a hint of concern flash across Munya's face.

"No, you're not sure. Argost has let you down before, hasn't he?" Doyle must've picked up Munya's doubt as well.

What happened next completely shocked Zak and Doyle into speechlessness.

"I live to serve Master Argost."

Zak and Doyle had never heard Munya speak one word in their life. His voice had a slight accent and Zak guessed it to be a form of Indonesian. He spoke intelligently, which surprised Zak, although he wasn't sure what he expected Munya's voice to sound like. In fact, he never thought that Munya could talk at all.

"Doesn't that man ever let you talk?" Doyle asked. Zak realized that this wasn't an insult to Munya, but a trick to get Munya to distrust Argost even more.

"That is not your concern, prisoner."

Whether calling Doyle 'prisoner' was meant to be an insult or if it had been done because Munya didn't know his name did not matter right now. If the hybrid was talking, Zak and Doyle must've hit some sort of raw nerve.

"It is our concern. My family doesn't just help cryptids, you know," Zak said.

Munya's eyes flashed with malice. "Your family has done enough to Master Argost."

"My family's done enough to him? Have you seen what he's done to us?" Zak growled with indignation.

"If you had not interfered, maybe you would not be where you are now."

This shut Zak up, but Doyle saved the day, "If he wasn't so keen on controlling the world and enslaving the human race, maybe we wouldn't have had to kick his butt so much."

At first, Zak grinned in agreement, but it was obviously the wrong thing to say to Munya. He was already in his spider form, so he shot out a jet of silk at Doyle. It covered his mouth, preventing him from saying anything more. "You do not talk about Master that way," Munya said, much louder than he normally talked.

Munya marched to his prisoners, glaring at Zak. "Have anything else to say?" he asked dangerously.

Zak wracked his brain for something to counter with. This wasn't looking good. Whatever he said next could be the difference between being freed or being blown to bits. "You don't like hearing this because it's the truth, right? You're trying so hard not to ruin the image of your perfect master."

"You are one brave child." Munya snarled. "That could get you in a lot of trouble."

"Thanks. I take after both my parents," Zak said, defending himself.

Munya waited for Zak to continue. When he didn't, the hybrid raised his eyebrows. "Well? What else do you want to pester me with?"

"Why are you still talking? Won't your precious master be upset?"

"One word or one thousand, Master Argost will not be pleased either way."

"Do you see what you're doing to yourself? You're staying with this maniac even though he doesn't even give you human rights!" Zak said indignantly. It wasn't just about getting free any more. No matter what Munya had done, no one deserved to be treated so cruelly.

"I owe Master my life. He saved mine. That is why I am in his service." Munya said simply. He turned to leave, but Zak was persistent.

"Service? You call what you do for Argost service? Argost is using you! He is using you to hurt others! He is using you to kill!"

"I only do what Master wants me to." Munya said with his back turned.

"Argost is using you, Munya! Any decent person wouldn't make someone pay a debt by making him their slave!"

Munya didn't respond to this.

"Can't you see what Argost is trying to do? He's trying to enslave the entire human race! He's going to kill people! He doesn't care about you; he just needs someone to do all of his dirty work for him!" Zak felt like he was finally getting into Munya's mind.

However, he was wrong. Munya growled and left the room without another word. Zak's head fell in sheer disappointment. He was relying on Munya to see Argost's true colors. Maybe if the servant had, Zak, Doyle, and everyone else would be free of this house. Zak turned his head to get a look at his uncle's face. Doyle stared at the exit of the room, his eyes blazing with anger. "I'm sorry Uncle Doyle. I thought I was getting to him," Zak muttered.

Zak didn't talk any more after that. He was silently hoping that someone would find them here before the house blew up. He then realized that no one else knew about the bomb and they would be in the house when it went off. Guilt and sorrow shot through his heart, breaking any spirits that he had left. Zak dropped his head again and did nothing but stare at the ground.

After about twenty minutes, the sound of heavy footsteps falling on stone caught both Zak's and Doyle's attention. Munya jogged into the room, his arms laden with the equipment he had taken from Doyle. He approached Doyle and ripped the silk from his mouth.

"Ouch!" Doyle exclaimed. "What do you think you're doing with my stuff?"

"Shut up and hurry. Get everything together," Munya instructed as he tore the silk off of Doyle's body. He then turned to Zak and ripped the silk from his body as well. "Use your jetpack to get us all out of here. We are the only three left in here and we do not have much time before the bomb goes off. I would give it about five minutes."

Doyle growled in frustration. "I can only carry one of you at a time."

"Take Munya first," Zak said immediately. Doyle expected Munya to argue, but he didn't.

"Fine, Mini-man," was all he said. With all his equipment back in place, Doyle positioned himself behind Munya and grabbed onto the creature's upper arms. "Ready?" he asked. Without waiting for an answer, Doyle pressed something on his jetpack and shot up into the air, breaking through the ceiling. He rose with Munya above the mansion and spotted the airship. Instantly, he shot off towards it, going as fast as the jetpack would allow him.

Doyle got close enough to the ground to drop Munya without hurting him. He turned around in the air and headed back into the mansion to grab the waiting Zak. He picked his nephew up by the waist and launched back up into the air. Just as they passed through the hole Doyle had made, there was an unbelievably loud boom. Zak covered his ears and shut his eyes tight, but Doyle kept on flying. The explosion was deafening and the orange and red light shone brightly through Zak's closed eyelids. The heat was intense, and Zak thought that surely they wouldn't survive.

Eventually, the heat dissipated, the noise stopped, and the light faded. Zak still felt his uncle's arms around his waist. He slowly opened his eyes only to see a billow of gray smoke. Looking down for the source, Zak saw what used to be Argost's mansion in a sorry heap on the ground. Debris was scattered everywhere. Zak could make out pieces of wood and stone scattered all over the place. Everything that had withstood the explosion was charred.

Doyle's voice brought Zak back to reality. "We made it, Mini-man."

* * *

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and I can't wait to hear what you guys think! Thanks for reading!

Update: I accidentally said that Munya had an Indian accent... I meant Indonesian! Sorry about that!


	17. Pokerish

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry that it's taking me so long to update these chapters, but our cruel school thinks that we need summer homework. Anyways, here's the next chapter! Also, I am no closer to owning the Secret Saturdays now than I was when I first started this story.

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The explosion's resonating sound found its way into the airship and reached the ears of everyone on board. Drew's head shot up at the sound. She was sitting in a chair beside her husband, who, through the combined effort of Basie and Drew, was determined to be comatose. She had been waiting for everyone else to prepare themselves to head back into the mansion when the explosion went off.

Now, however, it seemed that Drew's plans were drastically changed. Komodo and Zon were both at her feet and she didn't want to leave Doc alone. "Will you stay here with Doc?" she asked. Zon and Komodo both nodded.

Drew ran out of the medical room, terrible scenarios already swarming her mind. As she tried to block them out, she reached the cockpit and headed straight for the control panel. She punched one of the buttons and sprinted back out of the room.

To Drew's surprise, Fisk was waiting for her at the ramp. He was a nervous wreck, wringing his hands and hopping from one foot to the other. Drew chuckled darkly and said, "You heard it too, Fisk?" Fisk nodded his head quickly.

When the two headed down the ramp, they heard hurried footsteps behind them and turned to see a distressed Wadi. "Come on, honey," Drew said maternally, letting Wadi pass in front of her to walk next to Fisk.

None of them were expecting the sight that was before them.

The mansion lay in a heap of rubble and smoldering ashes. Drew, Wadi, and Fisk's jaws all dropped simultaneously. They were shocked into speechlessness, and could only stare, dumbfounded at the view in front of their eyes.

A feeling of panic seized Drew and she began breathing shallowly. "Where are Zak and Doyle?"

"Mrs. Saturday?" Wadi's voice sounded shaken and her face showed great concern.

Without answering, Drew ran off towards the rubble and began sifting through different pieces of what used to be Weird World. She would call out her son and brother's names every time she would find a new place to search through.

"Mrs. Saturday!" Wadi shouted. She raced to Drew and stood by her side, while Fisk began searching in a different area. The frantic Drew didn't respond to Wadi's call. "Mrs. Saturday, we need to get the others out here to help look!" Wadi said as she looked around worriedly.

"Fine, get them!" Drew commanded as she ran to the nearest large pile of rubble. "Whatever it takes to find my son and brother!"

"Drew, I should've known you would start freaking out."

The woman's eyes widened, but she didn't turn around to see who had spoken. Could it be? Could he have really survived the explosion?

"What, you're not going to turn and look at your little brother?"

Finally, Drew looked behind her to see Doyle, standing with his jetpack on his back and all of his equipment in their rightful places.

"Doyle!" Drew gasped. She stood up from the ground and charged her brother, embracing him in a tight bear hug.

"Can't... breathe..." Doyle said with strained breath. Drew grinned and let him go, taking a step back to admire him. "I knew you were strong, but I never you were that strong," Doyle commented as he leaned backwards to crack his back.

"How on Earth did you survive that explosion unharmed?" Wadi asked, looking up and down Doyle's body.

"It's a long story involving Munya, some silk, and my jetpack," Doyle said, smirking at Drew and Wadi's confused looks. "I'll tell everyone later, but I'm guessing you two want to see Zak."

He turned to lead the way over to where he had landed with Zak. Drew called Fisk over, and the two of them, along with Wadi, followed. As they passed the airship, Basie, Emir, Ain, Coman, and Alima all charged down the ramp. Once they reached the bottom and the sight of the destroyed mansion hit them, all three stopped in their tracks, their eyes the size of dinner plates.

"What happened?" Emir's demanding voice cut through the silence.

"Argost had a time bomb in his mansion this whole time," Doyle stated casually, not stopping his steady pace. "And time ran out on the clock."

"It sure did," Basie said, scanning over the wreckage.

The villagers fell in step behind Doyle, Drew, Fisk, and Wadi. Doyle led the way around the airship and started walking along the nearby creek they had walked in to get inside Weird World. They curved around a bend in the hillside next to them to see both Zak and Munya standing by each other, talking casually.

Drew stopped where she was and went to unsheathe her sword, but Doyle stopped her. "No, Drew. I don't think Munya's on Argost's side any more, thanks to Mini-man."

With an uneasy glance at the hybrid, Drew dropped her hand to her side and dashed to her son. Zak was lifted off his feet as his mother's arms trapped him in a tight hug. "My baby boy's okay!" Drew whispered as she squeezed Zak to her body.

"Yeah Mom, I'm fine, but I won't be if you don't let go," Zak joked. Drew smiled and put Zak down on his feet. Fisk squealed in delight and ran to hug Zak. With another lift and a spin in the air, Fisk let Zak down and the two high-fived.

With a quick, unexpected motion, Wadi ran to Zak and embraced him, though not as tightly as Drew had. Zak's eyes widened with surprise, but he was soon hugging her back, returning the warm embrace. Drew's smile grew wider and Doyle himself was grinning ear to ear. "I am happy you are safe, Zak Saturday," Wadi said clearly, not shy at all about her feelings.

"Thanks Wadi," Zak said, returning her smile as Wadi let go and stepped back.

Basie, feeling the happiness herself, walked to Zak and reached up to give him her own hug. Zak, feeling slightly awkward now, returned the hug, but was the first to let go.

When no one else stepped forward, Drew finally voiced the question that had been severely bothering her. "What is Munya doing here and why isn't he trying to kill us?"

Doyle opened his mouth to speak, but Munya held up his hand. "Please, allow me." Drew and Fisk gaped in astonishment as he continued speaking. "Your brother and son were generous enough to have saved me from the explosion, Mrs. Saturday."

Fisk said, "Say what?" and Drew asked, "You two saved him?"

Zak stepped up to defend Munya, "Uncle Doyle saved him after Argost abandoned him."

Munya set his jaw when Zak put it like this, but he showed no other sign of recognition of his former master.

"This guy was brainwashed by Argost. He deserves to know that the world isn't full of low-down scum after what he's been through," Doyle added.

Drew's eyes scanned over Munya, her face blank. Finally, she said, "You can come with us, but if you do anything that's suspicious, you better believe I will personally throw you out of that airship before you can say 'sorry'."

Zak laughed and said, "Welcome to the group, Munya." He held out his hand for Munya to shake it. Munya looked at it for a minute, and then grasped it.

"You have a remarkable son, Mrs. Saturday," he said, turning to face Drew again.

Drew didn't answer, but she couldn't help but smile at this compliment.

Alima, Coman, and Ain all stood cautiously away from Munya, none of them taking their eyes off of him. Basie looked wary, but her usual smile lit up her face. Emir, however, looked extremely annoyed and he was one to speak his mind.

"Are you telling me that we are going to be in the same airship as someone who worked for a man that tried to blow us all up?" he spoke furiously.

Despite her distrust of Munya, Drew looked right into Emir's eyes and said, "If Argost ever finds out what Munya has done, he would surely kill him, and it would be our faults if we don't take him in. I told you before, Emir, we don't kill cryptids."

Emir's face displayed his evident disgust and disapproval, but he didn't argue the topic.

"Thank you," Munya said gruffly, but there was a hint of a small smile on his face.

"Don't think this means that I trust you," Drew stated. "It would be a whole different story if you weren't half a cryptid."

"Of course, ma'am."

While this exchange took place, Zak was looking over everyone. Once everyone had stopped talking, he asked Drew, "Mom, where's Dad, Zon, and Komodo?"

Drew hesitated before saying, "They're all on the airship."

"Why aren't they out here? That explosion was loud enough to wake the dead," Doyle said.

"Komodo and Zon are with Doc. We'll all go inside and see them," Drew said, turning to walk to the airship.

Zak and Doyle exchanged puzzled glances, but Munya's face remained impassive. Everyone followed as Drew led the way past the wreckage and into the airship.

As they walked up the ramp into the airship, Basie spoke, "Mrs. Saturday?"

"I'm tired of all this formality. Drew's fine by me, and I'm sure my husband wouldn't mind if you called him Doc," Drew said.

"Oh, okay then," Basie said happily. "Drew, it's been a long day. Would you mind if I made dinner?"

"Thank you, but you don't have to do that."

"Everyone is hungry and you will be busy with Doc. Let me take care of dinner for you!"

Drew smiled and said, "If you're fine with that, go right ahead. Fisk, please show her where things are in the kitchen."

Fisk nodded and led Basie, Emir, Ain, Coman, and Alima to the kitchen, leaving just Drew, Zak, Doyle, Munya, and Wadi.

The five continued their walk to the medical room. Drew stopped at the door and punched a couple of buttons. Once the door opened, they all walked inside.

Neither Zak nor Doyle was prepared for what awaited them.

Doc was laying on one of the medical beds, propped up with pillows and hooked up to some humming machines. His eyes were closed and his face was expressionless. He looked as if he were sleeping.

"Dad?" Zak whispered, jogging to his father's side. "Dad, wake up! It's Zak!"

"Drew... what happened?" Doyle was in shock.

Komodo and Zon lay on either side of Doc's bed. Each looked up as everyone approached. Although Zak didn't have his Kur powers any more, he could tell that they were worried about the man they were protecting.

Drew took a shaky breath to speak, "Alima and Coman told me he saved them from being electrocuted by a Mamalambo, but he took the attack himself. Basie and I ran some tests." She exhaled and said quickly, "Doc's in a coma."

Zak stared down at his father's face. With resolution in his voice, he said, "Argost's gonna pay."

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Eh, not too action-y, but I felt this chapter was necessary. Please review!

I have a couple things to say before I leave you here:

1) I probably can't update this story again until after August is over, but I will try. No promises, though.

2) I have a poll up on my profile page. Go check it out and please vote! I know it may be a bit early to start thinking about a different story idea, but I wanted to have time to get everyone's opinion.

3) I saw Heart in concert! Ahhh, they were so amazing, even after 30+ years of incredible music XD

Thanks for reading and stay on the watch for the next chapter!


	18. Quaere

So... I thought I wouldn't have this up until September, but surprise! I don't own the Secret Saturdays, but don't let that stop you from reading!

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Doyle was getting to know everyone over the dinner that Basie had made. Coman seemed to have taking a liking to Doyle. The boy broke his normal silent nature and asked nonstop questions about everything from the different gadgets that Doyle had on his backpack straps to how he had escaped the mansion, saving both Zak and Munya.

Zak was surprised when the questions had gone on for at least ten minutes and Doyle had not seemed annoyed at all. The man spoke with his usual pride, eager to tell of his braveries to anyone that would listen. Alima and Ain were listening to Doyle's tales, hanging on to his every word as well. Zak had heard the stories before, but still listened interestedly to hear if Doyle would exaggerate, as he sometimes tended to do.

Basie and Emir were deep in a quiet conversation. They sat across from each other with their heads leaning forward over the table, their dinners forgotten. Munya sat at the end of the table, not saying a word during the entire meal. Drew sat in between Basie and Zak. She was silent for most of the meal, concentrating only on the food on her plate. Fisk, who was sitting across from Drew, was looking from one side of the table to the other, trying to listen to both conversations.

By the time everyone had cleaned their plates, Coman was still throwing questions at Doyle. The latter had lost his enthusiasm at the persistent inquiring, so he stood up from the table, signaling the end of the interview. Doyle picked up his plate, silverware, and glass from the table and carried them to the kitchen sink.

Drew stood up after Doyle and mimicked his actions. As he strode out of the room, she followed right behind him, without a word to anyone sitting at the table.

Zak cleaned up his own place. He thanked Basie for the dinner and left the room with Fisk trailing behind. Both of the boys were exhausted and were ready to turn in early for the night.

"I'll tell you everything that happened with me if you'll tell me what happened with you," Zak said as they walked through the airship towards Zak's bedroom. Fisk opened his mouth to respond, but something caught his attention. With his ears perked, Fisk turned around and headed for the cockpit.

"Fisk, where are you going?" Zak called after the Fiskerton Phantom. When Fisk didn't stop to answer, Zak sprinted off after him. Once Zak reached Fisk standing at the closed cockpit doors, he began to speak, "Fisk, what was that-"

"Ssh!" Fisk lifted his index finger to his mouth, signaling Zak to stay quiet. Zak, taken aback at first, became frustrated and took a breath to speak again. However, the sound of raised voices through the cockpit door stopped him. Fisk had his ear pressed up against the door, listening to what was being said. Zak, wishing he had Fisk's keen sense of hearing, strained to hear.

After a few seconds, Zak could tell that the angered voices belonged to his mom and his uncle. He pressed his ear harder against the door, trying to hear. Finally, his hearing adjusted and he could just barely make out every word.

"I don't see what the problem is here, Drew," spoke Doyle.

"How can you not? Those villagers didn't even know what you looked like when they agreed to come along, but they risked their lives to save you!" Drew shot back.

"They risked their lives to destroy Argost, not to save me!"

"What about Zak then? He was the one who insisted we come get you right away! Then there's Munya! He didn't have to save you!"

"I was the one that got both of them out of Weird World before it blew up!"

"The least you could do is show some appreciation for everyone's sacrifices!" Drew's voice was steadily rising in volume, making it easier and easier for Zak to hear.

"Sacrifices? I could've gotten out fine by myself! I would've been out a lot sooner, but I didn't want you guys to get blown up!"

"Yeah, sure. You wouldn't have gotten out of that maze if it wasn't for Zak!"

"I got your son out of that nightmare house!"

Zak and Fisk exchanged worried glances as a silence followed the shouting match. Doyle did save Munya and Zak from that explosion, but everyone had made a strong effort to rescue him in the first place. Doc had to face a serious guilt trip from the past to go back into Weird World, Drew knew just as well as Doc what death traps the mansion held, and the villagers, including Wadi, all knew how dangerous Argost was.

As he thought about it, Zak began to feel that he was the only one who hadn't let the location or the enemy's reputation affect his decision to go back into Weird World and rescue Doyle.

Drew's voice drifted to Zak's ear, but it was harder to hear it. She had brought it down in volume and intensity as she said, "My husband is in a coma thanks to this whole thing. He was trying to bring you out of there, Doyle."

"He never had to come for me in the first place," Doyle said sharply.

After he spoke, the sound of footsteps grew steadily louder as he approached the cockpit door. Zak and Fisk jumped away from it as it slid open. Doyle didn't notice the two of them as he passed and stomped off towards his room on the airship.

Zak glanced into the cockpit to see his mother wiping her eyes before the door closed again. "Wow, Fisk... I didn't think that bringing Uncle Doyle back would cause that," he said.

Fisk's eyes were wide with shock as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Well, let's get to bed. It's probably best that we left Mom alone," Zak turned from the cockpit door and led the way to his bedroom.

Just before Zak opened the door, someone called his name. Zak turned around to find Munya towering over him. "Munya! What's up?"

Munya paused for a moment before answering, "I hate to ask you for a favor, but this is very important to me." Zak, caught off guard, didn't say anything. "As you have probably already guessed, I come from Indonesia. I have not been there in years and I feel the desire to see what has become of my home village for myself."

Whatever Zak had expected, this certainly was not it. He gaped at Munya for a few seconds before finding his voice. "I can ask Mom, but I'm not sure she'll go for it."

"Thank you. It means a lot to me to go back, otherwise I would not have ever bothered you," Munya said, bowing slightly.

"Hey, it's no problem. I'll ask my mom now," Zak said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Allow me to accompany you," Munya offered. Zak didn't object, but he wasn't completely sure if Munya's presence with his mother would help or hurt the hybrid's chances of going back to visit his village.

"Go ahead to bed, Fisk. We can talk tomorrow," Zak said, turning to lead the way back to the cockpit. Fisk whined, but Zak didn't turn around. Having given up, Fisk went to Zak's room.

As Zak and Munya approached the cockpit, the door slid open, revealing Drew, who looked utterly exhausted. She was surprised to find company on the other side of the door. "Zak, what are you still doing up? I thought you would have turned in by now," she said, stepping out of the cockpit.

"I wanted to ask you something," Zak started. When Drew didn't answer, he continued, "Do you think that we could take Munya to his village in Indonesia? He hasn't been there in years and he wants to go back."

Drew's gaze shifted from Zak's tired eyes to Munya's blank ones. "We have to find Argost. How do we know you're not just trying to stall us from getting to him?" she asked suspiciously.

Drew's point had never even occurred to Zak. He looked up at Munya in a new, cautious light. Munya, however, had not even batted an eye. "Mrs. Saturday, I have not seen my family since Argost took me in ten years ago. This is not a matter of whether or not you trust me, but a matter of whether you would be willing to help me," Munya said without a hint of any emotion in his voice.

Zak suppressed a smile at Munya's choice of words. The hybrid had already figured out that using the word 'help' would make Drew reconsider things if they had to do with cryptids.

After a few moments of silence, Drew said, "Fine. Nothing suspicious though, got that?"

"Of course, ma'am," Munya replied, bowing as he had done for Zak.

Drew folded her arms over her chest and turned to Zak. "Is that all you wanted, honey? If we already know where we're going tomorrow, I'm going to bed."

"That's all Mom, thanks," Zak said sheepishly.

"Alright, good night," Drew said as she gave Zak a hug. "You're going to pass me up soon, kiddo," she smiled, ruffling Zak's hair.

"Whatever you say," Zak grinned.

Zak turned away from Munya and his mother to walk down the hall. He would let Munya tell her all the details on getting to the village. With all that had happened, he didn't think he would be able to stay awake if he had to listen. He just wanted to lie down and have a well-deserved sleep.

As he walked down the dark hallway, Zak attempted to clear his mind of thoughts of what Argost could be doing while everyone slept. He didn't need terrible scenarios playing through his mind while he was trying to sleep. He reached the doorway to his bedroom and placed his hand on the knob, ready to open it, but something else kept him from getting to bed.

"Zak?"

Not something, but someone.

Zak inwardly sighed and turned to try and see who had called him. Before he could see, he felt something against him and soon after, something soft and moist pressed against his lips. Surprised at first, Zak soon realized who it was, but didn't object. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her waist and returned the kiss.

He didn't understand it, but he felt he didn't need to. It just felt right and instinctual, almost like this is what he was supposed to be doing. Too soon, she broke apart from him and stepped back.

"Wadi," Zak breathed. "What was that about?"

Giggling, Wadi replied, "That was for saving me earlier."

Zak was puzzled, but he soon remembered. "Oh, from that Migas? Don't mention it!" he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"I just did," Wadi said, sounding confused.

"No Wadi, it's a saying that people say when-" Zak began. "Never mind. Anyways, I was heading to bed, so I'll see you in the morning?"

"Of course!" Wadi said happily. She pecked Zak on the cheek and left him to go to sleep for the night.

Zak stared at the spot where she had been. He brought his hand up to his cheek and rested it where Wadi had just kissed him. A smile slowly spread over his face, until he heard giggling from behind his bedroom door. His smile turned to a scowl as he grabbed the door knob and wrenched the door open. Fisk was on the other side, laughing hysterically.

"FISK!" Zak roared. "YOU CAN SLEEP OUTSIDE TONIGHT!"

Fisk, still laughing, slipped past Zak and ran out of the room before Zak could act on his words.

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I'm going to leave you all with another question here. Has anyone else heard the rumors of the Secret Saturdays movie that's supposedly coming out some time soon? If you have, do you think it's really going to happen? Anyways, thanks for reading and please review!

Update: I accidentally wrote that Munya was from India, but I meant to have him be from Indonesia! Sorry about that!


	19. Redshort

I want to take up this here introduction space to thank all those that have reviewed, favorited, and put **Rebellion's Rise** on alert! It's reached over 3000 views, thanks to all of you guys! So, enjoy your reward with another chapter! Translations are again listed at the bottom of this chapter.

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Zak woke up to the blinding morning sun shining through his window. He groaned and covered his eyes, willing sleep to come back to him. However, there was a knock at his door.

"Who is it?" Zak called, although he was sure it had only come out as a loud mumble of words.

"Breakfast is ready!" Basie's cheery voice reached Zak's ears. He groaned again, pulling his pillow over his head. Eventually, he threw the pillow onto the floor and rolled off the bed. Walking around in a sleepy daze, he somehow managed to get fully dressed without much of a problem.

Zak stumbled out of his bedroom door and headed to the kitchen, still not fully awake. Everyone was already sitting at the table, beginning to eat their breakfast of eggs and bacon.

"Scrambled as usual, honey?" Drew asked, as she cracked an over a skillet.

"Yeah, please," Zak said groggily. He took the empty seat between Wadi and Fisk. When he sat down, he folded his arms over the table and rested his head on them, closing his eyes.

"Get your head away from my plate, mini-man. I don't need your monochromatic hair in my eggs," Doyle said jokingly.

Without saying anything, Zak lifted his head off the table and wiped his eyes with his hands. "Why do we have to be up so early?" he moaned.

"We're going to head back to Indonesia and then get started on tracking down Argost before he can do any major damage," Drew explained from the stove. "There's a lot to be done."

"Sure," Zak said. He didn't think it was necessary to be up at seven in the morning to get everything done.

Coman, Alima, and Ain were all near Doyle, with Coman back to asking Doyle nonstop questions. However, after Drew placed Zak's plate in front of him, she went out of her way to sit at Doc's seat, which was further away from Doyle. Munya remained, silent, at the end of the table. Basie and Emir had sat across from each other again and kept their conversation to themselves.

Zak didn't talk much as he ate, since he was still not that awake. Once he finished eating, he decided a shower would help.

"Hurry up, sweetie. Once the table's all clear, we're heading straight for Indonesia," Drew called to Zak as he was walking out of the kitchen.

"Okay, Mom," Zak called from over his shoulder. He headed to the bathroom for a shower. After about only fifteen minutes, Zak was clean and ready to go. The airship was already on course for Indonesia, so he went to the cockpit to see if anything else was going on.

The airship had been put on auto-pilot, so Munya must've been able to tell Drew exactly where his village was located. Doyle sat in Doc's usual seat, looking seriously annoyed. Coman was on the opposite side of the cockpit, looking dejected. Zak started to walk towards Coman to see what had happened, but his uncle turned around in his seat and called him over.

"Mini-man! Come here, I need to talk to you."

"What's up, Uncle Doyle?" Zak asked as he approached.

"I need someone to talk to that doesn't just speak in questions and gapes at me in amazement," Doyle muttered.

"He looks up to you, Uncle Doyle. When I first met you, I was the same way," Zak defended Coman.

"You weren't nearly as bad as he is."

"I doubt Coman's ever seen the technology we have. Of course he's gonna be interested in the stuff that you have and how you use it."

Doyle sighed and folded his hands behind his head, resting on Doc's seat. "Whatever. I can only take him in small dosages, though."

Zak didn't say anything. He thought Doyle was only being selfish, but then again, no one ever treated him that way. Suddenly, a thought hit Zak and he felt the urge to know. "Uncle Doyle? Are you and Mom fighting?" he asked, thinking it was best to just come out with it.

Doyle answered without looking at Zak, "It's just a disagreement. She'll get over it soon." The conversation ended there.

With a fleeting glance at his uncle, Zak walked over to the crestfallen Coman. Before now, Zak's conversations with Coman were limited, if in existence at all. He had been too consumed with getting Doyle out of Weird World to really get to know the villagers that had volunteered to come along and fight Argost.

"Coman?" he called out hesitantly. The boy turned his brown eyes on Zak. "Coman, don't let my uncle discourage you. I was the same way with him whenever I was eleven."

"Did he ever tell you not to bother him any more?" Coman asked.

Zak was shocked. Doyle was acting so strange now that he was back from Weird World. He had argued with Drew and now he was telling a kid to get lost. Deciding to answer honestly, Zak said, "No, he never did." When he saw Coman's face fall, he added, "If he ever was mean to me, my mom would've beaten him and my dad would be next in line."

A small smile spread over Coman's face, but he didn't respond.

With a quick glance back at his uncle, Zak leaned in and whispered, "Don't let it bother you, alright? Honestly, he tends to exaggerate."

"I won't," Coman answered. He thought for a moment and then said, "I'm sorry about your dad, Zak."

"Hey, it's not your fault," Zak replied.

"If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't be in a coma."

With a shrug, Zak said, "Things happen. He's gonna be okay."

At that moment, the cockpit doors swished open and Drew walked in. "We're almost at Munya's village, Doyle. Can you land us safely?"

"What, do you think I was born yesterday? Of course I can land us safely," Doyle shot back.

Drew wanted to say something, but decided to let the matter drop. She only stood back by the door and waited.

The airship slowly descended and eventually touched the ground. Drew pressed a button nearby to lower the airship's ramp to the ground. Without looking back, she left the cockpit to exit the airship.

"Come on, Coman," Zak said. He led the way out of the cockpit and down the ramp. Doyle stayed behind for a couple minutes to make adjustments to the airship before joining everyone else outside.

When everyone had gathered together, Drew said, "Basie, Emir, and I are going to take the orang-bati back to its normal habitat. The rest of you can go on to Munya's village."

Zak had completely forgotten that they still had the orang-bati. He was glad his mother had remembered it in the face of everything that had been going on. However, he was confused. "You're releasing the orang-bati? Why here?"

"Zak, this is the same place where we found it, only it's not under Argost's control now," Drew said.

She was right. They were standing in the same forest they had first found Argost and where they had had to leave Doyle behind. Zak looked up at Doyle and said, "Do you think it's the same village we were in?"

"It could be, mini-man."

Once Drew, Basie, and Emir had gone back into the airship to retrieve the orang-bati, Munya addressed the group. "Would anyone object if I were to lead the way to my village?" When no one spoke up, he said, "In that case, follow me."

Doyle and Zak exchanged glances before falling in step behind the hybrid. Wadi, Coman, Alima, Ain, Fisk, Zon, and Komodo could all be heard walking behind them. As they headed down the path alongside the stream, the smell of smoke filled their nostrils.

This wasn't like the smoke that Zak and Doyle had seen floating from the village's small cooking fire on their first visit. Up ahead, they could see thick, grey clouds of it, obscuring any hopes of sighting the village.

Munya stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the smoke. Zak and Doyle walked on either side of the hybrid. His face showed the first emotion Zak had seen since Munya joined them: terror.

Zak started to get worried. Munya wasn't moving and his expression hadn't changed. "Munya?" he called out.

"Apa yang terjadi?" (1) Munya mumbled in his native language before taking off in the direction of the smoke.

Doyle, Zak, and Fisk began shouting after Munya as he ran through the forest. Zak, without much thought, sprinted after Munya. The smoke grew thicker with every step and as he drew closer to the village, there was an intense heat that also increased. As Zak headed further, a blinding orange light could be seen through the smoke. 'Fire' was the only word that crossed Zak's mind as, against every instinct that told him to turn back, preceded to the village.

"Munya!" Zak began to call out. "Munya, get out of there, it's too dangerous!" He kept trying to shout for Munya while looking for him, but the smoke began to choke him. Between coughs, he could barely get out any words, let alone any sounds. Zak soon began wheezing and coughing for air and he could no longer stand. He fell forward on the soft ground, his knees taking the impact. As he still tried to call out for Munya, he was finding it harder and harder to keep his eyes open.

Just as Zak lost the fight to keep his eyes open, heavy footfalls sounded through the cracking of branches and the splitting of wood. Soon, Zak felt in a strong, sturdy hold as he was lifted from the ground. He felt scorching hot wind whipping against his face before surrendering to the cool darkness.

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(1) "Apa yang terjadi?" - "What is going on?"

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Well, there's the next installment! I just love leaving cliffhangers, but it is a bad habit... At least you readers must think so... I'm also trying to develop the villagers that came along... I'm not used to having this many OCs! A little notice before I leave you:

I've taken off the poll on my profile, realizing that a sequel to this story is going to be the clear winner. In it's place, I've left another poll that will decide on when the sequel takes place. Please go and vote! I will close the poll once the epilogue is published.

Thanks for reading everyone and please review!


	20. Subtrist

I am a bit happy with how this chapter turned .?docid=19548183out, so I can only hope that you'll enjoy reading it! I would like to thank all those who have reviewed, favorite-d, and put this story on alert. You're the biggest reason I keep going! So, without further ado, here's the next chapter!

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The darkness was the one thing that Zak found comfort it. The events that had happened in the last couple days had completely escaped his mind, leaving him in a peaceful state of what felt like sleep. Zak was content to simply stay in this abyss as the problems that had existed currently did not and he was free from the burdens of worry.

All too soon, something penetrated his sheltered place of mind. He heard a voice calling out to him, but he couldn't make out who it was or what they were saying. His peaceful void had been interrupted and shattered and, despite all Zak's efforts, he could do nothing to piece it back together.

The voice grew clearer and clearer, and instantly, Zak gained his thoughts back from before his safe darkness and was able to recognize the voice.

"Zak, please, we need you..."

It was Wadi. Zak's heart gave a lurch at how distraught she sounded.

"Your father needs you... I do not think he can recover without you..."

Father... The gears in Zak's brain slowly began to turn, allowing him to have thoughts and feel feelings.

"Fisk, Komodo, and Zon need you too, Zak. They would be so lost without you..."

Zak's brothers and sister were worried too? He couldn't comprehend what had been so catastrophic.

"Your mother and uncle would be lost without you..."

Try as he might, Zak couldn't open his eyes. He now knew that he was laying on something soft and he wanted so badly to open his eyes and comfort the worried Wadi.

"I need you too, Zak..."

Somehow, Zak managed to open his eyes, but only slightly. Miraculously, he found his voice, but it came out as a hoarse croak. "Wadi?"

Wadi's eyes shot open. She had been crying; there were tear tracks running down her cheeks. She jumped out of the chair she had been sitting in and wrapped her arms tightly around Zak's neck. "You're awake!" she exclaimed ecstatically.

"What happened?" Zak spoke again, feeling a terribly painful scratching in his throat.

After a moment of hesitation, Wadi decided to tell him all that she knew, "You ran off after Munya into the village, which was beyond saving. I stayed behind along with everyone else. Even Doyle did not know what to do. After about five minutes, Munya ran out of the smoke, carrying you in his arm and another boy in his opposite arm."

Zak realized he had gone down from the smoke inhalation. It had been strong and thick, after all. For a second, Zak thought of asking Wadi how Munya managed not to succumb to the smoke, but he thought better of it. He wanted to know something else instead. Forcing himself to speak, Zak asked, "Who was the boy Munya was carrying?"

"He said the boy's name was Seti."

Seti! The name hit Zak like a ton of bricks. Seti was the boy that had been with his mother, Nairi. Zak and his uncle had met them both before the Saturdays found Argost.

"I do not believe that I have heard the boy speak," Wadi voiced her thoughts.

"He can't really speak English," Zak explained, remembering how Nairi had done most of the talking. His throat felt like it was being rubbed raw, but curiosity got the better of him. "Wadi, is Seti's mother around, anywhere?"

Wadi replied almost instantly, "No. I have not seen anyone that could possibly be his mother." Zak's heart sunk.

Before he could say anything else, he heard the sound of a door opening and turned his head slightly to see that he was lying in the medical room and that his mother, along with Munya, Zak's brothers and sister, and the villagers, were all walking in together, carrying bowls of food.

Drew caught sight of her son and quickly ran to him. "Zak!" she cried out, as she reached him. "You're awake! Are you okay, honey? How do you feel?"

"Tired, and my throat's sore," Zak answered. He looked up at Munya as the hybrid approached and said, "Thanks for getting me out of there."

"You and your uncle saved my life from the explosion. It is the least I could do for you, Zak Saturday," Munya slightly bowed his head.

"Here Zak, you have to get some food into your system," Drew said as she handed Zak a spoon holding warm chicken noodle soup. Although he didn't feel the least bit hungry, Zak gulped down the soup, feeling a slight soothing sensation through his throat. Drew held the bowl up and Zak ladled out spoonfuls of soup to eat. Once the bowl was empty, Drew placed it on a nightstand next to Zak's medical bed.

Zak, naturally, wanted to know every detail about what had happened at the village, so he didn't hesitate to ask. Looking at his mom, he said hoarsely, "It looks like everyone else is alright."

Instead of Drew, it was Munya who answered. "Seti, a boy that I rescued, is resting up in your room. He was not injured as he was outside when the fire suddenly erupted, but he is exhausted."

Behind Drew and Wadi, Emir, Basie, Alima, Coman, and Ain had taken seats on different medical beds. All five were eating their soup ravenously, but listening eagerly to the conversation, anxious to know what had happened.

"What about Uncle Doyle? He's not here," Zak was grateful for the soup. His throat didn't hurt as bad now whenever he talked.

"He said he wanted to turn in early for the night. He did look exhausted," Drew replied nonchalantly.

"And Seti's mom?" Zak asked, fearing the worst.

Everyone seemed to freeze simultaneously. They stared at Zak in surprise, wondering how he knew anything about the boy Munya had rescued. Munya, as usual, didn't show his surprise, although he most likely felt it. Without batting an eyelid, he answered simply, "She did not make it."

"Nairi..." Zak whispered. He could see Seti and his mother Nairi's faces in his mind as he remembered stopping in their hut and talking to Nairi about the orang-bati. Yet another question hit him, "Did you get the orang-bati back safely?"

"We had no problem with that," Basie said, although she wasn't her usual, cheery self. Zak guessed the events of the past three days were wearing the woman out. She did look exhausted. Ain had fallen asleep on Alima's shoulder and Coman's eyes were drooping shut.

However, Zak wasn't finished with his question spree. "Why do you think the village caught on fire?"

Munya was the one to answer him, "It was Argost." Everyone suddenly looked alert.

"How do you know that?" Drew asked, intrigued.

The hybrid hesitated. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell them how he knew about Argost. Deciding it would be best to tell everything he knew about Argost, he took a deep breath and plunged into an explanation. "Argost always promised me that he would never touch my village, so long as I did whatever he asked of me. He planned for me to leave with you all, but I never thought I would have done it on my own free will. Zak's words really did affect me, and I realized that what he said was true. Argost wanted me to sabotage your airship so that we would reach him and he could kill you all."

Everyone was gaping at Munya. Even Komodo, who had been sneaking licks of Fisk's soup, stopped in surprise.

"You were going to hand us over to Argost?" Drew growled furiously.

Munya nodded ashamedly. "Yes, that was our original plan. However, after just one night with all of you made me realize that I cannot take Argost's ways any longer. He treats me like scum, and I just could bear it no longer."

"So how do we know this is not in your whole grand scheme?" Emir spoke up.

Zak was about to shout at Emir, but Munya beat him to it, amazingly keeping his calm demeanor. "That answer is rather simple. Argost burned my village down. He would never have done so if I was still his servant." Munya looked down at the floor and said softly, "So many died today... My family... My friends..."

After that, no one spoke. A few minutes passed and, one by one, everyone started to leave the medical room to go to bed. Zak watched Munya intently, feeling terrible for the hybrid. Although he didn't show it, this must be terribly difficult for him.

Once Wadi left, Munya was the only one left with Zak. Something was on Zak's mind and he desperately needed to find out the answer. Munya got up to leave, but Zak spoke up, "Munya, wait. You saved Seti out of everyone else. Why?"

Remaining impassive, Munya replied, "He was my only family I could reach before the flames became too hot."

"Seti's related to you?"

Munya blinked and responded, "He is my nephew."

Realization hit Zak and he gasped. "Nairi is your sister?"

"I was not always this hideous, Zak Saturday. Argost did this to me. I had a life before becoming his servant. In that life, she was my younger sister. That man saved my life and told me he was planning to destroy my village. I agreed to become his servant and test subject with the knowledge that I was protecting my sister. Our parents were dead and she would be alone, but I believed that in going with Argost, she would live to have a wonderful life."

Zak was speechless. Why had he never thought that Munya had a life before Argost took it from him? When he didn't say anything in response, Munya said, "I am going to check on Seti and then go to sleep. You should get some too, Zak."

Before Munya turned around to leave the room, Zak believed that he saw a tear escape Munya's eye.

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Well... That was rather intense. I hope to have the next chapter up as soon as possible, but 11th grade is most likely going to be the toughest year yet! Please review, and thanks for reading!


	21. Thole

Umm... Well... I really have nothing to say here, except thank you to all those that reviewed the last chapter and those that have followed this story for this long! Only a couple chapters left... I'm getting excited!

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"Still no luck tracking down Argost?" Zak asked as he walked into the cockpit.

"We're working on it, Mini-man," Doyle called over his shoulder. He was standing in the middle of Drew and Basie, who were all looking at several maps of different places. Zak didn't understand them and he didn't care to get involved. He knew of everyone's abilities and trusted that they would find what they were looking for.

Ever since Doc had gone comatose, Basie quickly and naturally picked up the extra duties around the airship. She was busy trying to interpret the maps, just like Doc would have been doing.

Emir was the only other one in the cockpit, but he sat a ways off, not paying any attention to the maps. Zak actually thought he was sleeping, since he hadn't moved. As for Munya, Wadi, Alima, Coman, Ain, and Seti, Zak had not seen them all morning, not even at breakfast. He thought they were probably still sleeping. Fisk had been assigned to watch Doc for the morning and Zon and Komodo were nowhere to be found.

Zak approached the maps and stared blankly at them, not comprehending what he saw. There were so many different lines pointing in different directions along with little circles that beeped every few seconds. Drew put the map into a 3-D effect, causing the topographical landscape to extend upward, creating a mini model of the map instead of a two-dimensional picture.

Letting Doyle, Drew, and Basie get to it, Zak left the cockpit. He figured he could be training for whatever Argost might have in store for them, but decided against it. The only one he really wanted to train against was his father. With that thought, he decided to go and see Doc. He didn't expect anything to have changed, but he had heard stories that talking to people in a coma had a possibility of helping them recover.

Inside the medical room, Zak strode over to his father's bed and sat down beside Fisk on the neighboring bed. Fisk stared down at his brother quizzically, but was only met with silence, so he didn't say a word.

Suddenly, Zak hopped down off the bed and stood near Doc's bed. He thought for a moment about what to say, but just said things as they came to his mind.

"Well Dad, I think we're going to end up fighting Argost today. I can't shake this feeling that I'm going to be the one that has to face him in the end, although I'm sure Mom won't take that idea sitting down. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I wish you could fight with us... This wasn't going to be easy in the first place, but now that we have to fight without you..." Zak paused. He was staring straight into his father's stoic face.

"Dad, I'm afraid that some of us aren't going to make it out of this."

Fisk let out an audible gasp and looked over at Zak, who didn't return his gaze.

"I don't know, Dad... It's just this feeling I have, and it's really bothering me. Even though Argost didn't kill Van Rook, he might as well have. Now that Argost can control cryptids and I can't, things are going to be much harder than last time," Zak continued. "We need you for this, Dad."

Zak hadn't realized he had been crying until he finished speaking. Tears had welled up in his eyes and once he was done, they started spilling over. Fisk looked sorrowfully down at Doc, who had remained unresponsive throughout Zak's speech.

"Okay, I think I'm going to go see if anyone's had any luck finding Argost. We'll come talk to you later Dad, I promise," Zak said.

With that, Zak and Fisk both left the medic room. While on their way to the cockpit, they were stopped by a flustered Wadi. "I have been looking for you everywhere, Zak Saturday! Your mother says there is a Dr. Grey that wants to show everyone something."

Zak and Fisk followed Wadi into the cockpit, wondering what Miranda wanted. They hadn't heard from her in months.

When the three arrived, Doyle was talking animatedly to Miranda, whose face appeared on a large screen to the left side of the cockpit.

"Have you found Abbey yet?" Doyle said as Zak walked in.

"No luck yet, Doyle. We're still trying though," Miranda answered.

"Will you promise me that you'll let me see her whenever you do find her?" Doyle asked, smiling maliciously.

Miranda laughed. "As long as you promise not to kill her!"

"I would do nothing of the sort!" Doyle said, overly feigning an innocent tone.

"Abbey is my sister, Doyle. Don't go overboard if you do get a chance to see her," Miranda replied seriously.

At this statement, Drew spoke up, "Zak being my son never stopped you from going after him once the news that he is Kur leaked out."

Miranda went silent.

Although still not on speaking terms with his sister, Doyle chuckled at her comeback. He then turned to see that Zak, Fisk, and Wadi had made it into the cockpit. "Everyone's here, Miranda. What's this big news you wanted to tell us all about?"

"It's easier if I just show it to you. Here's the clip now," Miranda pressed a button that was off screen.

A shot of Munya and Seti's completely destroyed village replaced the one of Miranda's face. Zak quickly looked around to see that neither of the two was in the room, which was probably for the best.

"Greetings and bienvenue, my ever loyal Weird World watchers. I know that it has been four years now since you have seen I and my crazy schemes, but I assure you, this time I am back and here to stay. As for an apology on my part, I have decided to give you all recompense. Tune in tonight to Weird World. I promise you that it will be a show you will never forget. It will change the world forever!"

The screen spun around to show Argost grinning maliciously with a large army of cryptids behind him. The screen faded to black and Miranda's face reappeared.

"You don't suppose he's trying to lure us in?" Drew asked.

"That's exactly what I'm thinking. However, you know that if you don't go tonight, he will take it personally, probably acting out by sending his army of cryptids to attack a major city," Miranda voiced her thoughts.

"We had already planned to track down Argost and finish him once and for all tonight. That promo just helps us eliminate the whole tracking part of it. Now we can prepare," Doyle stated.

"This isn't going to be like it was before, is it?"

Everyone turned to look at Zak in surprise. He had remained quiet ever since he entered the cockpit.

Without waiting for an answer, Zak continued, "No it's not. Argost is more powerful than ever. What if..."

Drew dropped her gaze to look at the floor. She knew what was coming next.

"Argost is fighting to kill. What if he does?" Zak whispered.

To everyone's surprise, it was Emir who answered, "We all are well aware of the risks that accompany fighting this Argost man. My family and I knew of them when we agreed to go along with you all. To me, this is not about glory or even helping anyone out. This is to stop the world from falling into the hands of V. V. Argost. I will fight."

The other four villagers nodded their heads in their agreement.

"I guess that's settled then," Drew said solemnly.

"I will fight, too, Zak Saturday, and there is nothing you can say that will stop me," Wadi said as she looked directly into Zak's eyes.

"That's right mini-man. We're all in this and we're not backing out until the very end," Doyle said with a smile.

"That includes us, as well. Alert me immediately if you need backup tonight, Drew. I will personally see to it that each of the secret scientists gets the message," Miranda said.

Zak looked around at everyone, feeling their emotions of justice, anger, and togetherness. "Well, I guess the world really is in for a show that they will never forget."

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Yeah... That was a bit of a tamer chapter. I guess it needed to be a sort of filler. Anyways, thanks for reading and please review! The next chapter is the beginning of the fight!


	22. Ultion

Hey everyone! I'm so sorry it took so long for this chapter to get up; it's been a stressful couple weeks. Thanks for sticking with the story and enjoy!

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All too soon, the airship hovered over the same clearing it had landed in twice before. First out was Emir, who was stretching his muscles in preparation for whatever lied ahead. Munya brought up the rear, following closely behind Seti. Everyone was out of the airship, except Alima and Doc. Alima had eagerly volunteered to watch over Doc while the others went to battle Argost.

Seti hadn't said one word after he was rescued from his village. He never even looked anyone in the eye when they spoke to him. However, the exception was, naturally, his uncle. Although Seti didn't say anything to even Munya, he would show signs of response whenever the hybrid spoke to him. Zak hadn't planned on talking to Seti, feeling somewhat guilty for the destruction of the village. Seti seemed to think along the same lines; he hadn't even looked at Zak since he joined the group on the airship.

For the third time, Zak walked through the woods to the now destroyed village. He had his claw clenched tightly in both of his hands, glancing around warily for any signs of unexpected movement. Who knew where or how Argost would attack?

Once they reached the outskirts of the decimated village, Drew sped ahead of everyone, and stood right where the middle of the village had been located. She was gripping her Fire Sword in her right hand, scanning the surrounding area for any signs of Argost. "Okay, Argost, we're here! This ends tonight!"

Zak began to walk forward to take a stand next to his mother, but something flew out of the woods from everyone's left side. The flying creature sped straight at Drew. Before she could react, it smashed into her, sending her flying into the woods to the right of the village. The cryptid, which Zak thought was an arabhar, pursued its target, leaving the rest of the group alone.

"Mom!" Zak shouted. He, along with Fisk, Doyle, Munya, Komodo, and Wadi, began to run into the woods after Drew, but were stopped short. The ahuizotl from Mexico swung from a nearby tree and landed in front of the group. It gave a loud roar before launching itself at Fisk.

"Close your eyes, Fisk!" Zak shouted. He ran at the cryptid leaped onto its back, trying to pull it off of Fisk. The ahuizotl managed to flip Zak on his back and slammed him onto the ground. The pinned Zak stared, terrified, into the cryptid's glowing green eyes.

"Get off of him!" Doyle shouted. He tossed a few concussion grenades at the ahuizotl. Once they went off, the ahuizotl screeched and fell over. It quickly got up and its eyes were no longer glowing. With a small whimper, it turned and ran into the woods.

"They're everywhere!"

Zak rolled over to see that Seti, Basie, Emir, Coman, and Ain were surrounded by a group of cryptids.

"Coman, Ain! Get back on the airship!" Basie commanded over the sounds of the cryptids fierce growls.

"No, Basie!" Coman shouted back.

"We are not going back on the airship to wait and worry!" Ain shouted, just as loudly, much to everyone's surprise.

Emir scowled. "Forget this nonsense, just plow through!" he roared. Unsheathing his short sword, he dashed at the nearest cryptid, plunged the sword into its back, and vaulted over it.

Zak gaped in horror. The green glow that had been in the cryptid's eyes faded and it fell onto its side. Instinctively, he started to run towards it. His mind snapped back to reality as he felt Munya pull him off of the ground and turn him around so he couldn't see what was happening.

"You must not do something as reckless as you were about to. Our plan is for everyone to come out alive. Besides, I do not think your mother would forgive me if I let something happen to you," he said softly and quickly.

Zak struggled for a moment, but Munya's grip proved to be steadfast. Once Munya was sure Zak wouldn't run off, he carefully put him back on his feet. "I will keep this Emir in check. You go ahead and help your mother," he stated.

Without another word, Zak did what Munya told him to. He scanned the forest and quickly found Drew fighting off a pack of arabhars. He broke into a run to join her, but something large stepped into his way. He smacked into it and fell backwards. Without getting a chance to look at this obstacle, Zak was lifted from the ground yet again. He couldn't see what held him, but he was now face to face with V. V. Argost himself.

"Ah, just the Saturday I was looking for. Greetings and bienvenue to you."

Argost had taken off his mask, revealing his true identity as the Yeti. His eyes were glowing green as he somehow managed to hold control of all the cryptids that were in the area.

"I hoped to get you as well as your uncle and father, but that did prove to be rather difficult, even for me. Mr. Saturday does not seem to be in the area. Care to explain, dear boy?" Argost said casually.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Zak growled as he attempted to kick whatever was holding him.

"Actually, I would, young Saturday. I guess the order I kill in does not matter, but I would prefer to save you for last."

"You're not doing any killing today, Argost!" Doyle's shout echoed through the trees. He threw more concussion grenades at Zak's captor and at Argost. Zak toppled to the ground and rolled over to see Fisk Monday jump out of the grenades' way. Argost had easily dodged the grenades and was now trying to strengthen his hold over the cryptids.

Zak quickly stood up and accused, "You brought the Monday cryptids here!"

"Indeed I did. I thought they would be a great asset to my team," Argost replied as he stepped over to Fisk Monday.

"That's enough, Argost!" Doyle shouted as he jumped at the Yeti. The two wrestled on the ground for a few seconds before Argost managed to throw Doyle off.

"I will give you one last chance, Saturdays," he said as he brought Zon Monday to his side. "Surrender now and live as slaves, or meet me up at the top of the volcano. I guarantee that the latter will result in much difficulty for the both of us." He climbed onto Zon's back and the two rose above the ground.

"Get back down here and fight us, you coward!" Doyle yelled.

Argost chuckled darkly. "The top of the volcano it is then." Zon Monday flapped her wings rapidly, emerging from the forest. "I will call off the cryptids for now, but once you start climbing, expect no mercy."

"You call that nice?" Doyle grumbled to himself as Zon Monday flew away.

Zak felt overwhelmed, not wanting to deal with anything at all. He suddenly found himself wishing so desperately to return to simpler times where his biggest concern was crushing Fisk on a video game.

Doyle laid a hand on Zak's shoulder. "Come on, mini-man. Argost isn't going to wait forever. Let's finish this now."

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I feel bad about keeping it rather short and keeping the action to a minimum. However, it will get more intense, I promise! Thanks for reading and I'll get the next chapter up soon!


	23. Vorpal

I've decided to completely focus my fanfiction writing on finishing up this story. As the action grows more intense, I feel the need to keep going until all is over. When is it all over? You'll just have to keep reading to find out!

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Once Argost had ridden Zon Monday away to the volcano, he relinquished control of the cryptids. Fisk Monday ran off into the woods, but Zak and Doyle didn't bother going after him. The future of the Fiskerton Phantom of another dimension wasn't on their minds. Instead, Zak and his uncle went looking for Drew.

She was a couple hundred feet away, slumped against a tree and the arabhar was nowhere in sight. At the sight of Zak and Doyle she breathed, "You would think I'd have learned Argost's ability to turn simple cryptids into dangerous monsters," referring back to her run in with Flashlight Frogs at Weird World.

"Are you alright, Mom?" Zak asked as he helped her to stand straight.

"Yeah, I'm alright. What about you?" she asked as she ruffled his hair.

"I'm fine."

"Now that catching up time is over, I think we need to do something about Argost now," Doyle stated bluntly as he looked up at the looming volcano.

The three moved back out of the woods to see that the cryptids there had vanished as well. Emir, Basie, Coman, Ain, and Seti hadn't moved very far after they had been surrounded by cryptids. Forgetting about what Emir had done to one of the cryptids, Zak and Doyle casually walked forward, preparing to tell everyone the plan to confront Argost.

Drew, however, stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Emir's bloodstained sword.

She dashed forward and wrenched the sword from his grip. "What is this?" she said in a dangerously calm voice.

Emir didn't bother to suppress a smirk.

Now infuriated, Drew brought Emir's sword less than an inch away from his face. "I said, what is this?"

"Why Drew," Emir said in an overly innocent manner, "That is my sword." His family, along with Seti, was rooted to their spots, watching the encounter.

"There's blood on it. You want to explain to me whose blood it is?" Drew had dropped the calm tone and her voice was rising in intensity.

"I would prefer not to. You are holding that sword and if I did tell you, it may lead to me being seriously or even gravely injured."

Drew raised the sword above her head, but instead of bringing it down upon Emir, she threw it as hard as she could. It stuck into a trunk of a tree several yards away. "Do it again and you might not be so lucky," she snarled.

Zak felt an uneasiness in his stomach as he noticed that Emir still had on a smirk that was, if possible, bigger and more arrogant than before.

In the awkwardness that followed, Wadi and Munya approached Zak and Doyle.

"So, what are we doing now?" Wadi asked.

"Argost's waiting for us at the top of the volcano. We're going to stop him up there and put an end to all of this," Zak explained.

"I can assure you that it will be no easy task to do so," Munya added.

"We knew it wouldn't be easy right from the start," Doyle said as he looked up to try and see the top of the volcano. "Hey, at least the thing's inactive."

Zak looked around the area until he spotted Zon. He called her over and said, "Hey girl, do you think you could ride us up to the top of that volcano?" She glanced up at the top of the volcano and looked back at Zak, nodding her head. "Alright, let's do this!"

As he climbed onto Zon's back, Zak pulled Wadi up in front of him. "Hey!" he called out as Zon started to rise into the air. Everyone turned to look at the pair on the back of the cryptid. "We're heading up to the top of the volcano. Zon can come back and bring the rest of you up!"

"Zak, wait!" Drew called up, but it was too late. Zon was already above the forest branches, traveling in the air to the volcano.

Only then did Zak notice that his hands were resting on Wadi's hips. He suddenly felt a tinge of nervousness that had nothing to do with the upcoming battle with Argost. Wadi either hadn't noticed, or she didn't mind. Whatever the case was, Zak thought the ride up to the volcano ended too soon. He and Wadi dismounted Zon and she flew back down to bring up more.

Using this time to themselves, Zak said, "Wadi, are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to, this isn't your fight."

Wadi sighed, but was smiling. "When will you accept the fact that I am capable of doing this, Zak Saturday? There is no need to be afraid for my sake."

Zak didn't respond, but his worries hadn't been eased in the slightest. Wadi noticed the anxious look on his face, so she stepped closer to him and held his chin in place so he would look right at her. "I can take care of myself," she smiled.

"You promised that we would get Uncle Doyle back safely and you kept it. Will you promise me that you will get out of here if things get too bad?" Zak asked quietly.

Wadi had to consider this request for a moment. She didn't want to run away from battle, but she couldn't just leave Zak worrying.

"Wadi…" Zak pressed.

"I promise that I will get out of here if things get too bad," she said, having made up her mind.

"I'm keeping you to that promise, too," Zak said.

The two of them waited in silence as Zon brought everyone up from the woods. Once everybody was present and accounted for, Doyle stepped up to lead the way. They all started to walk the little bit that remained before they reached the top and, ultimately, Argost.

The path was narrow and the air steadily decreased in temperature as the group walked on. Fog had started to form, but it wasn't strong enough to cause too much liability to the team's vision.

After about five minutes, Doyle spoke, "We're nearly there."

His words seemed to trigger something. Right after he said them, a loud drumming noise filled the air. Seemingly out of nowhere, a herd of cryptids charged down the path, aiming straight for the team.

Everyone jumped into action. Doyle fire up his jetpack and flew over the cryptids that were reaching straight for him. Drew unsheathed her Fire Sword, ready to defend. Munya began shooting out silk webs at any cryptids that got to close to him or Seti. Basie and Emir stood in front of Coman and Ain respectively, mentally preparing for the upcoming chaos.

A score of Popobawas flew over all of the grounded cryptids and dove at people in the group. While trying to defend against an attacking cryptid, three Popobawas dove at Drew and picked her up by their talons. Three more flew above Munya's head, dove at Seti, and picked him up in the same fashion. Everyone else was aware of what happened, but couldn't stop fighting off the cryptids for their own sakes.

"The problems just keep amounting," Argost cackled. He rode towards the team on a large cryptid, but stopped shy of the fighting. He suddenly called off all of the cryptids to draw attention to at least ten more Popobawas.

Time itself seemed to stop as Zak realized that each of the Popobawas was carrying an active bomb, ready to detonate on impact. Argost laughed again as he sent the armed Popobawas down the volcano and straight for the airship.

* * *

I feel a bit weird for having everyone traveling so much, but it advances the story! Anyways, I was curious to know what everyone's favorite OC is from this story? I know there's quite a few and I haven't really developed them a lot, but I would love to know! So, thanks for reading and don't forget to review!

P.S. Gotta love the cliffhangers!

Quick Update: Sorry about the repost, I didn't mean to delete this chapter in the first place.


	24. Wrackful

Darn my insatiable urge to finish this fanfic! It's currently 1 AM here and I need to get up in 5 and a half hours. Plus, I haven't finished my history essay which is due tomorrow. Oh well, I'll get it done! Anyways, I hope this new chapter brightens everyone's Mondays!

* * *

Everyone fighting the cryptids stopped to watch the bomb-toting Popobawas fly down the side of the volcano. The realization settled in slowly, but when it did, the effect was explosive.

A single, strangled cry broke the silence. Basie's hair-raising scream was what Zak least expected. However, it brought his mind back into action... enough action for him to act on his own instincts, anyways. He called out for Zon and once she was close enough, he jumped onto her back. Zon took off into the air and prepared to shoot off down to the airship. Suddenly, something landed lightly on Zon behind Zak. With a slight turn of his head, Zak recognized the form behind him as Coman. Neither boy said a word to each other as Zon streaked down the volcano side, headed straight for the airship.

Before Zon lighted on the ground, Zak and Coman jumped off her back and took off running. Still, no words were exchanged as Zak scrambled to open the ramp up to the airship.

The Popobawas were still making their descent down the volcano. Coman watched as a sudden shift in their behavior occurred. The glowing green in their eyes seemed to intensify and their speed increased. Fear hadn't penetrated his mind yet and his impulse to act on instinct strengthened.

Zak had opened the ramp to the airship and immediately started sprinting up into the vehicle. Coman, with a quick glance at the Popobawas, followed suit.

"ALIMA!" the younger of the two shouted. He continued yelling his sister's name as he ran with Zak to the medical room. Once they reached it, the doors slid open, revealing an apprehensive Alima.

"Coman? Zak? What is going on? Did you defeat Argost?" she asked with bated breath.

"Alima, get out of the airship! There is no time!"

Once Coman finished speaking, a deafening explosion rocked the entire airship. Zak, Coman, and Alima all hit the floor, covering their heads with their hands. There was a pause, in which the three carefully lifted their heads, but another explosion, just as loud as the first, destroyed the brief reprieve.

They awaited the next explosion, but it never came. Instead, frantic footsteps sounded outside of the medical room. The door swished open to reveal the last person Zak expected.

Ulraj stood in the open doorway, clearly breathless. "You all need to get out of here! I don't know if the Secret Scientists got all those cryptids!"

Coman led a severely shaken Alima out of the medical room. Ulraj turned to follow, but Zak called out, "Wait! I need help getting my dad out of here!"

With a fleeting glance at the retreating brother and sister, Ulraj looked at Zak. "What do you mean?"

"My dad, he's... Just come and help me!" Zak said. He ran to his father's bed and began unhooking all of the testing equipment Drew had hooked up earlier. With Ulraj's help, Zak rolled the bed out of the medical room and towards the airship ramp.

* * *

"ZAK, NO!" Drew shrieked, unable to move thanks to the Popobawas' strong grips. It was no use. Zon was already heading down the side of the volcano, straight towards the airship.

A traumatized Basie stood at the volcano's edge and stared down at the Popobawas. Her brother and sister, both whom she had raised herself, were in death's direct path. She kneeled, quivering, unable to do a thing.

Doyle and Munya motionlessly watched the scene in horror. Ain had started to run to Basie's side, but Emir had scooped her up and now held her tightly in his arms.

All were oblivious to Argost's constant sadistic happiness at the entire scene. With one word spoken, "Release," the nightmarish reality of the current situation broke free all at once.

An explosion sounded from the ground below, shaking everyone watching up on the volcano. However, the Popobawas down at the airship were not the only ones to act. The cryptids holding Seti and Drew followed their master's orders, releasing their captives to freefall to the ground below.

Munya roared furiously and dove to the side of the volcano, landing flat on his stomach. He shot out a stream of silk, aiming for his nephew. As the silk wrapped around Seti, Doyle leaped off the side of the volcano and activated his jetpack. He soared down through the air, until he caught up with his sister. He didn't let up until he positioned himself to catch her. Drew landed safely in her brother's arms.

"Consider this my thanks for getting me out of Weird World, sis," Doyle said with grim humor.

"Doyle..." Drew couldn't say much else. She was utterly speechless.

Before they knew what was happening, a second Popobowa's bomb shook everything around them. The heat from the bomb could be felt all the way up at the top of the volcano. Drew turned to look at the wreckage below, only to see that half of the airship was on fire. She quickly turned her head away and buried her face in Doyle's chest. Doyle, unable to watch any more, closed his eyes and turned his head into his sister's hair.

Once Doyle felt that the world hadn't outright fallen apart around him, he flew back up to the volcano to join everyone else. When his feet touched solid ground, he fell forward onto his knees, still holding Drew, who was now trembling, in his arms.

Nearby, Munya was trying to undo the silk that he had used to save Seti. To the other side, Emir and Ain had gone to Basie's side. Emir tightly hugged his sobbing cousin as Ain stared silently.

* * *

Zak and Ulraj had managed to wheel Doc down the airship ramp. Without a word, Ulraj left to see what he could do to help. Zak set to investigating his father to see if anything might've caused any more damage.

As Zak lifted Doc's wrist to check the pulse, he heard a low, hoarse voice.

"Zak..." it managed to croak. "What's going on?"

"Dad?" Zak exclaimed. He looked down at Doc's face.

Doc's eyes were open slightly, his breathing was shaky.

"Dad..." Zak trailed off, letting relief overwhelm him.

"What's going on?" Doc repeated again, sounding even more gravelly than before.

Zak took a deep breath before replying, "We're in the middle of a fight with Argost. He just had a bunch of Popobawas release bombs to blow up the airship." When he saw the look of horror cross his father's face, he quickly added, "Everyone got out alright."

Someone put their hand on Zak's shoulder. Zak turned to see Miranda standing behind him. She spoke, "Go ahead back up to Argost. We'll handle things down here."

"What about Dad?" Zak asked, looking back down at Doc.

"I'll personally see to it that he is taken care of, Zak."

Although Zak felt bad leaving his father behind just when he had finally woken up, he nodded. He called out for Zon again and climbed onto her back. He looked around to see that Coman hadn't left Alima's side, so he decided to go back up to the volcano alone.

Doyle's head shot up as Zon came into view. When he saw that Zak was with her, he nudged Drew. She looked up at him and then out in the direction that he was staring.

Zon lighted upon the ground and Zak carefully got off of her back. "Thanks girl, you did a lot for us today," he said patting her head. Suddenly, he was swept up off the ground and found it harder to breathe.

"Baby boy! Oh, baby boy you're alive! Don't you ever do something like that to me again!" Drew had grabbed Zak and was now squeezing the air out of him in her happiness. Quite suddenly, she released him and held his shoulders at arm length. "What happened to Doc?" she asked with an air of desperation in her voice.

"Ulraj and I got him out. He woke up just before I came back up here," Zak answered, smiling.

"He woke up? Oh honey, that's great!" Drew said, moving forward to embrace Zak again.

Wadi, who had been alongside Munya, hurried over to Zak and joined in on the hug without saying a word. She didn't have to. Zak understood.

The sound of hurried feet broke the cheerful reunion. Zak looked up to see a distraught Basie standing beside him. With her eyes still welling up with tears, she asked, "Zak, please... I have to know... What happened to Alima and Coman?"

"They're fine, Basie. I think Alima's a little shook up about everything, but they weren't hurt."

An enormous sense of relief washed over Basie. Her entire body seemed to relax at the news that her brother and sister had survived unharmed. Tears fell from her eyes anyways, thanks to her newfound happiness.

The euphoria at the news of uninjured allies was short-lived, however. A monstrous roar seemed to shake the volcano itself, even more than the bombs had done. Everyone on and near the volcano looked for the source. Only the ones up on the volcano could see Argost, furious, leading his army of cryptids forward. The mass of cryptids seemed to swell forward as one and with a newfound force.

Before Zak knew what was happening, he found himself surrounded by bloodthirsty cryptids, all controlled by Argost himself.

* * *

So that takes care of the 'W' chapter! Just three more letters to go and I promise that the conclusion will be a thriller to the very end, of course with a couple twists! Thanks for reading! Don't forget, reviews are wonderful to us authors!


	25. Xenagogue

I don't want to make this intro too long, so... The intro's over!

* * *

"Everyone, get out of the way!" Doyle shouted over the roars, howls, and growls of the oncoming cryptids. Zak looked for a way to escape, but all around him were walls of cryptids. He could no longer see over the edges of the volcano and could only catch random patches of light from the sky above as flying cryptids soared overhead. The cryptids on the sides of him began to tighten their formation around him. The little circle of safety that had naturally formed by the stampeding cryptids was now narrowing. Zak could even feel some of the cryptids brush against his arms as they trampled past.

There was no escape. If Zak dared to step outside of his circular haven, he would be trampled, most likely to death. He didn't want it to end like this... he never imagined that he would fall to the creatures that he, along with his parents, had protected for their entire lives. Zak grinned to himself as he thought of how ironic it would be.

Any cryptid that ran past now pushed Zak to the side. He was bouncing back and forth through the cryptids, unable to find a break to escape into. A cryptid running towards him didn't follow the rest of the herd to swerve off to the side. Instead, it headed straight at Zak, increasing its speed as it charged forward.

Zak braced himself for the impact, but his fingers brushed against something that he had completely forgotten... his claw. In one, fast motion, Zak grabbed the claw with his hand and shot it into the air, hoping that it would latch onto something. To his surprise, it did, but whatever it latched onto was moving. Zak pressed the button on his claw, hoping against hope that whatever it had latched onto was heavier than he was.

His feet lifted up off the ground and, in mere seconds, he found himself soaring above the stampede of cryptids. Without hesitating, Zak looked to see what had been his saving grace. Against all odds, he found that the claw had latched onto one of Zon's legs instead of an attacking cryptid's.

"Zak!"

Looking up, Zak saw Wadi reaching down to him. She helped him clamber onto Zon's back. Zon managed to retain her balance and fly high above the stampeding cryptids under the additional weight.

Zak barely managed to gasp out, "Everyone else?"

"Fisk has your mother and Ain safe in some little alcove on the volcano wall. I saw Munya grab Seti and Komodo, but I am not sure where they are at. Doyle is flying behind us with his jetpack, but I do not know about Basie and Emir," Wadi explained quickly.

"And Argost?" Zak panted, trying to get his breath back.

Wadi looked away from Zak's gaze to look towards the top of the volcano. "I think that he is at the very top of this volcano, waiting for us to get up to him."

"Then we won't disappoint him," Zak growled.

"Wait, we are going to fight him? Now?" Wadi asked, shocked.

"Yeah. I'm not letting him put this off any longer. I'm going to do everything I can to end it here and now."

Wadi said with a smile, "You are not going to do that alone, Zak Saturday."

"He's definitely not doing this alone, Wadi!"

Zak and Wadi turned to see Doyle was flying Drew and himself behind Zon. "We attack on sight!" Drew shouted.

"Alright!" Zak yelled over his shoulder. "Zon, fly higher girl," he whispered to the cryptid. Zon growled in response. Instead of flying just above the volcano's path, she flew straight up into the air, rising above the volcano itself. Doyle followed suit.

In just a few, precious seconds' time, Argost came into sight. Doyle flew through the air first, heading straight for him. Drew unsheathed the Fire Sword and quickly shot at Argost, hitting him squarely in the face. Argost's traditional mask cracked and shattered on impact and his exposed face clearly showed surprise. However, he quickly composed himself to display an arrogant smirk. "Ah, would you look at that? It's the infamous sibling team, attempting to ruin my plans yet again!" he shouted.

"Doyle, drop me down there!" Drew commanded. Neither of them could see past the white-hot anger that was now flaring in their eyes. All reasoning had left them and only impulsiveness remained.

With a ferocious roar, Argost threw a handful of Devonian Annelids up at Drew and Doyle, but Drew countered with another shot from the Fire Sword, blasting the cryptids out of the sky. Both Doyle and Drew landed on the top of the volcano, ready for a fierce fight.

Zon lighted upon the ground behind Argost. Wadi and Zak both dropped from her back on the other side of Argost. Zak gripped his claw and held it out in front of him while Wadi did the same with her yo-yo. Drew and Doyle stood on Argost's other side, holding the Fire Sword and a set of concussion grenades respectively.

"It's rather funny that the five of you believe you can defeat me," Argost was laughing maniacally at this point. "Me, the ruler of the world!" As he shouted this, his eyes glowed green, a brighter, stronger green than they ever had before.

The sight that met Zak is one that he will never forget. Hundreds of cryptids were crawling, striding, stomping, or flying over the sides of the volcano, headed directly for the five on top.

Zak couldn't let them reach the top of the volcano and there was only one way to insure that they didn't: Take out the controller himself. He left Wadi's side to charge at Argost, prepared for a tough fight.

"Ah, Zak Saturday, just the man I wanted to see!" In one swift movement, Argost stepped in front of Zak and grabbed onto the claw. "The Hand of Tsul'Kalu should be in the hands of someone who can put it to its full potential!"

Argost's words hit Zak like a ton of bricks. Zak had never thought that Argost would want the claw. He switched from offense to defense as he tried to wrestle the claw out of Argost's grip. The Yeti's crazed laughter rang through Zak's ears. "You may want to watch out, young Saturday, even old friends can be foes," he cackled.

Their struggle came to a standstill as Zak surveyed how his allies were faring. Argost seemed to hold complete control over all of the cryptids in the area, including the Saturday and Monday cryptids. Wadi was trying to fend off a brainwashed Zon while Drew and Doyle found themselves surrounded by the three Monday cryptids.

"Hand over the Hand of Tsul'Kalu and your friends and family will remain unharmed and very much alive," Argost growled menacingly without loosening his grip on the claw.

Zak glanced back at Wadi who was slowly being pushed towards the mouth of the volcano. He turned his head to find that the cryptid circle around his uncle and mother was tightening. With a deep breath, he looked up into Argost's glowing eyes.

"Well?" Argost said patiently.

Closing his eyes, Zak relinquished his grip on the claw. He fell backwards to the ground as Argost swept the claw through the air and raised it high above his head. "All the cryptids of the world are now under my command!" his voice boomed in the same ethereal voice he had used at Weird World.

The world itself seemed to shake as unspeakable amounts of power surged through Argost's being. Zak cowered against the ground, but he was unable to take his eyes off of the Yeti. There was nothing he could do to stop Argost from completely taking over the human race.

Argost's eyes glowed green, but something strange was happening. The claw glowed orange. His eyes and the claw alternated colors between green and orange before the claw suddenly and unexpectedly exploded. Nothing was left behind; it was as if it just left existence.

Zak gaped up at Argost, trying to piece together what had just happened. He didn't have to figure it out because Argost began talking to himself.

"I have the Kur powers! Why wouldn't the Hand of Tsul'Kalu channel them?" He paused before continuing, "That must be it. It's not the Kur powers that I have, but the Ruk powers. The Hand of Tsul'Kalu channels the Kur powers, but it would block the Ruk powers... So that must mean that I need Zak Monday's Fang..."

The power that had surged through Argost wasn't power at all. It was the Ruk powers and the claw's powers interacting.

"You're not going to get the Fang, Argost!" Zak shouted as he jumped off the ground and threw himself at Argost. The two fell to the ground. Argost tried to push Zak off while Zak tried to keep Argost pinned down until someone could help him. The explosion of the claw seemed to seriously hamper Argost's powers; no cryptids came to his aid. In fact, it seemed that the sound of the surrounding cryptids was beginning to fade.

Zak was losing his power over Argost and the element of surprise was long gone. Argost's natural strength was starting to retaliate. The strength of a Yeti would easily overcome the strength of a sixteen-year-old boy, several times over.

Just as Zak thought that he couldn't hold down Argost any longer, he felt something grab the back of his shirt, pull him up into the air, and drop him onto the ground.

"We'll handle this now."

It was Doyle. For a second, he stared at Zak, but he quickly snapped his head forward to look at Argost. The white-hot anger had never left his eyes.

Zak scrambled to sit up. He didn't have to worry about holding down Argost any more. Drew was standing over him, holding the Fire Sword's point over Argost's neck. The anger hadn't left her eyes, either.

"You spent years attacking people, killing them, and tearing families apart... for fun," Drew said in a frightfully calm voice.

"I bet you thought you would live your entire life without ever having to pay for it," Doyle added in a voice that matched Drew's.

Argost simply laughed. Drew and Doyle looked taken aback, but they quickly showed the same expressions of anger they had before. The Yeti's eyes glowed green yet again, but Drew and Doyle didn't react.

Zak, who was still sitting on the ground, felt a low rumbling in the ground. He turned his head to see a boar-like cryptid charging up the side of the volcano. Zak believed it was a Cafre, but identifying it was the least of his worries.

As the Cafre charged past Zak, he noticed that Emir was riding the back of it.

"THIS IS THE END, ARGOST!"

Zak couldn't comprehend the following events, nor would he until he spent hours reflecting on them the night after.

Drew and Doyle heard Emir's shout. They turned to see the charging Cafre. Drew grabbed onto Doyle's arm and pulled him out of the cryptid's path. Argost hadn't had time to react. He was now directly in the Cafre's path.

With a dull thud, the Cafre, with Emir on its back, collided with the fallen Argost. The glow in Argost's eyes had faded with the impact. Without the control Argost had provided, the Cafre found itself in a heavy dash, unable to stop. With an ear-piercing squeal, it ran directly off the edge of the volcano and into the mouth of the beast, taking Emir and Argost with it.

* * *

What are you supposed to say after something like that? Well... Umm... I'll leave you with the typical "let me know what you think" and the equally predictable "thanks for reading".


	26. Yearning

Hey, guys (and gals). This is the second-to-last chapter for Rebellion's Rise. I'm proud to say that this will be the first fanfic I've completed that was meant to tell a story like this. Thanks for the reviewers, favorite-rs, and alert-ers, it means a lot to me that you followed this. I'm not gonna say much else, but this chapter's kinda... Well, you'll see.

* * *

Zak jumped off the ground and ran, stumbling, towards the mouth of the volcano. Wadi joined his side in the mad dash, unsure of what had really happened. Before Zak or Wadi reached the gaping moth, they were both grabbed up by Doyle and Drew respectively.

"There's nothing we can do, mini-man," Doyle said, not lightening his grip despite Zak's struggles.

Wadi didn't bother to try and fight her way to freedom. "They're gone," Drew said solemnly.

Drew's words were final. It was as if because she said it, it was true. Zak stopped struggling when he heard her. Doyle, certain that Zak wouldn't do anything drastic, carefully put him back on his feet. Drew did the same for Wadi.

"What… What do we do now?" Zak asked, his voice shaking.

Doyle sighed and said, "Nothing for now. I think we need to let the other Secret Scientists worry about these cryptids." Zak had completely forgotten about them in the minutes after Argost, Emir, and the Cafre fell. The cryptids were now walking around, trying to make sense of their surroundings.

"Zak, Wadi, take Zon down to the airship below. Doyle and I –" Drew took a deep, shuddering breath before continuing, "Doyle and I will get everyone gathered together. Send Zon back up so we can shuttle everyone down."

"Sure thing, Mom," Zak said. He called Zon over to him and Wadi. As he helped her onto Zon, he couldn't help but notice that she was shaking. He decided to wait until they were out of earshot to start talking to Wadi and he climbed onto Zon, taking his position in front.

Zon started flapping her wings and in seconds, she was airborne. The cryptid began moving forward and, once it reached the edge of the volcano, began a slight downward descent.

Zak kept his eyes forward, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. Was Argost really gone? Was that really the end of the villain that he, his family, and his friends had been battling for since he had been eleven? Was Emir really gone as well? Zak couldn't make heads or tails of the situation and thinking about everything only made his head ache.

"Are you alright, Wadi?" Zak asked, searching for a distraction from his thoughts. There was a moment of silence before Wadi reacted to his statement. She took a breath to answer, but couldn't say a word. Unable to hold it in any longer, Wadi let her welled up tears fall.

Zak felt Wadi lean against his back, her emotions completely blocking out any attempts at supporting herself. He wanted to say something, anything, that could ease her pain, but he couldn't think of anything. He just let her cry against him as Zon steadily made her way down the side of the volcano.

Once Zon landed, Zak carefully slid off. He turned to help Wadi off, who was still obviously upset. She tried to hide it now that they were going to be with other people, but it was clearly reflected in her eyes. Instead of accepting Zak's help, she slowly and carefully slid off Zon by herself. Without any provoking, Zon immediately took off to begin shuttling everyone down.

Zak turned to Wadi, but she had already started walking towards the airship. He started worrying about her and how she was taking in what just happened. After a quick glance up towards the volcano, Zak headed towards the airship himself.

The Secret Scientists and Ulraj caught sight of Wadi and Zak. Immediately, they all rushed over to see what had happened. Wadi seemed incapable of responding, so Zak took it upon himself, "Argost, Emir, and a Cafre fell into the volcano. My mom and Uncle Doyle wouldn't let us look into it once they had fallen. Zon is shuttling everyone down from the volcano here to regroup."

Miranda and Cheechoo instantly began talking about the events that Zak had described and what was to be done. Epsilon pulled out some sort of device and started entering information into it. Cheveyo was the only one that directly addressed Zak to say, "Your father and friends are waiting for you in the airship. Why don't you go ahead inside?"

Zak shook his head. "I want to wait until everyone's down from the volcano." No one objected to this.

Minutes passed by, but there was no sign of Zon. The Secret Scientists and Ulraj had stayed nearby, but their conversations eventually stopped altogether. Something was definitely wrong.

"Zak," Wadi said softly. "What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know..." Zak said, letting his voice drift off.

By now, all eyes were on the sky, searching for any sign of Zon. After what seemed like hours, Ulraj spotted her and pointed her out. As she descended, Zak could make out that Doyle was flying her, but she was carrying something else on her back.

A hysterical wail filled the air, sending goose bumps up Zak's arms. He was even more shaken when he realized that Wadi had been responsible for the unsettling sound. Zak looked at her, anxiety written all over his face. Wadi buried her face in her hands and fell to her knees.

Zon was closer now and Zak could make out what she was carrying besides Doyle. Basie's limp body was draped over the cryptid. She was completely still.

Once Zon landed, Doyle carefully lifted up Basie. She still wasn't moving and Zak started to really fear for what had happened. Doyle carried her almost as if she were a baby, a surprising action for the tough man. Zak left Wadi and walked to his uncle, not comprehending what was going on. His mind had been overloaded from the battle with Argost and the loss of Emir, but this... this was just too much.

Zak stared at the inert Basie and then looked up at his uncle, desperate for a look of comfort or reassurance. Doyle returned the look, but he seemed almost morose. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. Zak took a step back, his eyes wide and his mouth gaping.

Three crimson gashes were clearly visible on Basie's chest, right over her heart. They were deep enough, Zak guessed, to reach the vital organ that the attacker was aiming for.

Doyle walked past Zak. The Secret Scientists tried to talk to him, but he ignored them and entered the airship.

Before following his uncle, Zak knelt down next to Wadi. He put his hand on her shoulder and she lifted her tear-stained face out of her hands to look at him. He helped her up and the two followed Doyle inside.

The doors to the medical room had just slid closed. Zak was wondering if Alima and Coman had gone back in when his question was answered when Alima's sobbing resounded throughout the entryway. Glass was shattered and Zak guessed that Coman had broken something. Every few seconds, another glass object would shatter, but Zak thought that Doyle would be able to handle the fourteen-year-old.

Wadi had showed herself to the cockpit and Zak, not sure of what else to do, followed. He found her near the doorway, sitting cross-legged and leaning against the wall. She didn't look at him as he sat down next to her, although she did know that he was there.

After clearing his throat, Zak called tentatively, "Wadi?"

She didn't answer at first. It seemed that she couldn't bring herself to do anything besides stare blankly at the floor.

"Wadi? Are you alright?"

At this next attempt, Wadi suddenly began sobbing. Zak wanted to do anything he could to comfort her, but couldn't think of what to do.

In a few minutes' time, Wadi had suppressed her crying enough to say, "I knew both Emir and Basie for as long as I can remember. They were close friends with my father. He would always go out of his way to help them because of what happened with their parents."

Zak didn't know what to say, so he remained silent.

"Basie was studying and practicing to become sort of a doctor for the children of our village. As for Emir... Emir was supposed to be studying under my father to become one of military leaders."

She never looked up when she talked. Her eyes never left the floor, but she began to shake with more tears.

Taking a sharp breath, Zak slid over towards Wadi and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into his chest and continued to cry softly. Zak ran his hands up and down her back. It was then that he realized that Wadi, despite her strong heart and personality, needed him.

"Everything's going to be okay, Wadi," he whispered. "We'll get through this together."

* * *

I feel really terrible know about writing the past two chapters. However, they will really be the ones that work together to shape the sequel. I honestly do feel bad about this. Well... Thanks for reading and review if you want, just nothing that completely insults or degrades what I've done. I feel bad enough...


	27. Zounds

Here it is, guys! The last chapter of **Rebellion's Rise**! Are you as excited as I am? Probably not. I'm excited since this is the first complete fanfic I've gone all the way with. Oh, here I am, just talking. Well, go on, read!

* * *

The double-funeral service had taken place in the village. Emir's body had never been recovered from the volcano, but the villagers proceeded in the same way they normally would have. Wadi sat in the front row with Zak and her father to her sides. Doyle sat next to Zak, his face blank and staring.

Zak thought that the entire village had showed up, despite the blazing heat. A few of the villagers had waved to him if they saw him, most likely recognized him from when he helped save the village from Eterno four years ago.

Wadi's father stood up from his chair and stood in front of the seated crowd. The dull chatter instantly stopped as the man began to speak, "We are gathered here today to mourn as well as honor the lives of two of this village's finest people."

Most of the words that followed the introduction simply went right in one of Zak's ears and out the other. It's not that he didn't feel anything towards the loss of the two cousins, but that his thoughts about the two were completely blocking everything else out of his mind. Basie and Emir were only a few years older than he was, but their short lives had been ended so abruptly. Even thoughts of Van Rook pulled Zak's mind away from the eulogy that Wadi's father was presenting.

The service seemed to go by quickly to Zak. Although it had been at least half an hour, Zak could've sworn he was there for less than half of that time. Wadi, Ain, Coman, and Alima had all spoken in front of the villagers, reminiscing on the good memories had with Basie and Emir. People in the crowd were able to contribute their own memories towards the end of the service. Before it ended, Drew walked to the front of the crowd and gave a speech on Basie and Emir's remarkable valor over the past few days up until the very bitter end.

Hardly any of the words spoken registered in Zak's mind; mostly all of them went in one ear and out the other. Only when people around him began standing up from the chairs did realize the service was over and the villagers were heading to their burial grounds. Zak automatically followed them, but ended up towards the back of the procession.

Everyone proceeded in a roughly organized line. The pallbearers were at the beginning, navigating through the village until they came to barren grounds. Further ahead, there were headstones laid out in rows. Some ways back, there was an already-dug grave for the single coffin. A headstone was already in place by the grave with another next to it.

The villagers' despair was getting too much for Zak to handle. Instead of staying in line behind Wadi, he stepped out headed back towards the village houses. As he approached the first one to his right, he heard a hurried, rushed voice coming from the opposite side of the hut. Once he recognized it as his mother's, he silently jogged to the closer side of the hut and strained his ears to listen in to what she was saying.

"– tell you yesterday, but I didn't get the chance," Drew began.

It was Doc's voice that answered, "What's up, honey?"

"Those wounds that were on Basie's chest... Doyle said they were from cryptid claws. I don't think he's right."

"You don't?" Doc asked, surprised.

"No, I don't remember there being a cryptid with claws that sharp and long that could have caused wounds like the ones Basie had. I think someone human killed her, Doc, someone that was acting on his or her own will," Drew explained.

"I didn't see anything that went on atop the volcano, so I don't know what cryptids were up there with you."

Their conversation was followed by a period of silence. Before Zak could react, his mother and father moved around the hut and stopped in their tracks when they saw Zak on the other side.

"Baby boy," Drew said softly. "How much of that did you hear?"

Zak didn't respond. He was still dazed from what his mom had just said.

Doc looked worried. He wasn't sure how Zak felt about Emir or Basie, but a tragedy like this must be hard to deal with, even if he only knew the two for a few days.

Finally, Zak spoke up, "Mom, you think someone killed Basie?"

Drew sighed and looked away. "I'm not certain, but it's a very high possibility."

"Do you have any idea about who would..." Zak let the sentence trail off.

"That's just it. I really don't know who would do such a thing to someone like Basie."

The possibility that someone Zak was close to over the past few days was a murderer wasn't a comforting thought. In fact, it really bothered him. "Are you going to tell anyone else?" he asked.

"I was only planning on telling Doyle. It would absolutely devastate Alima and Coman if they knew, and I think Ain as well. I'll leave it up to you whether or not you want to tell Wadi," Drew answered, well aware of the two pairs of eyes focused right on her.

Zak remembered how distressed Wadi had been over the deaths of her fellow villagers. He didn't think she could bear it if he told her that someone that was with them had been capable of murder. "No," he said, "I won't tell her. Not yet, anyways."

Doc nodded. "That's exactly what I was hoping you'd say."

The sound of footsteps sounded over the conversation. The villagers were returning from the burial grounds.

"We're going to say goodbye to Wadi and her father before we leave," Doc said, watching the procession as it drew closer to the village.

"If we get the chance, we'll say goodbye to Alima, Coman, and Ain, too," Drew added.

Zak thought for a moment. "Could you guys say goodbye to those three for me? I have to do something before we leave."

"Honey, you know you should –"

Doc cut Drew off, "Yes, Zak. We can do that."

"Thanks," Zak said with a small smile. It seemed like it had been days since he had smiled.

No one said another word as they watched the villagers stride past. Some were talking, trying to wash away grief with communication, but most looked miserable as they walked by. Drew, Doc, and Zak fell in place behind the crowd. They were headed for the village's meetinghouse for a meal.

Once inside, Zak searched around the meetinghouse until he found Wadi. He couldn't talk to her there; there were too many people around. Instead, he asked her if she would step outside for a word with him and she obliged.

Back outside, Zak didn't know what to say. Would telling her how he felt about her make things awkward between them? It shouldn't since she seemed to feel the same way... But then again, he wouldn't be staying at the village. He had to go back with his family and continue working with them and the Secret Scientists. Even if Wadi did want to be more than friends, Zak had absolutely no idea how it would work out.

Wadi raised an eyebrow. It had been several minutes since she left the meetinghouse and Zak hadn't said one word to her. "Zak?" She finally called out.

"Oh, sorry," Zak said, his thoughts returning to reality. "How are you holding up?"

Sighing, Wadi responded, "I will be alright."

Zak wished he could say he would be there for Wadi, but he couldn't. Living on an airship thousands of miles away didn't exactly constitute being there for her.

"I'll try and convince my mom to let me visit as much as possible, okay?" Zak said as he rubbed the back of his head. Wadi looked at him, a hint of disbelief in her eyes. Zak added, "Consider that my promise to you."

"I will hold you to your promise, Zak Saturday," Wadi said.

For the first time, Zak was the first one to make the move. He lifted his hands and cupped Wadi's face. She took a step closer to him and he did the same so that their bodies were touching. Closing his eyes, Zak brought his lips to Wadi's. His brain shut down as she placed one hand on the back of his head and the other on his back and returned the kiss.

Zak was perfectly content to stay that way forever, but something had caught his attention. He reluctantly broke the kiss and stepped back, looking around for the source of the noise.

There, peeking around the side of the meetinghouse while shaking uncontrollably with laughter, was Fisk.

"AGAIN, FISK?"

* * *

And we'll end it at that! Before I close up this story, I want to think all of those that reviewed:

Wadi Fan, Spottedstarshell, PhantomGirl12, HelloSweetyMerryChristmas, yayturtle, Fantasy-Mania31, StarSapphireWolf, Lone Star Gazer15, Dylexa, Midnight Marquis, KingdomHeartsandIchigoLover, ZakSaturdayFan, MaikoUltimateFan, GwenDNA, Fun Starr, BlackarachniaFan018, scrubslova, heyitsmeXD, and umbreonmonique!

You guys are great! Also, thanks in advance to those that review this chapter!

Thanks to all who favorited (Is that even a word?) this:

0zaksaturdaykur0, amy0213, Cyber Rex, DarkDrago, Dusk LockHeart, Dylexa, GwenDNA, heyitsmeXD, i-love-dogz, KingdomHeartsandIchigoLover, Lone Star Gazer15, MaikoUltimateFan, Midnight Marquis, moonellen, orochi ryuu, scrubslova, SpottedStarShell, Star Saturday, StarSapphireWolf, Zak Saturday, and ZakSaturdayFan!

Thanks, everyone!

Also, thanks to those that added this to their alerts:

BlackarachniaFan018, GwenDNA, heyitsmeXD, KingdomHeartsandIchigoLover, Midnight Marquis, PhantomGirl12, Spottedstarshell, and ZakSaturdayFan!

Thanks again!

I'm going to present a Hall of Fame sort of thing here of those that reviewed, favorited, and added this to their alerts:

GwenDNA, heyitsmeXD, KingdomHeartsandIchigoLover, Midnight Marquis, Spottedstarshell, and ZakSaturdayFan!

I'm not going to be adding people if they do all 3 now that the story's over, but thanks to any that do!

Thanks again guys, all of you that reviewed, favorited, added this to their alert lists and even just read this! You're the ones that kept this story going! It might be a little while before the sequel's started. I do have ideas, but I have some one-shots and short stories that I really want to finish before I get started on the sequel. Stay tuned, and thanks again! You don't know how much your support means to me. God bless!

* * *

_This story is dedicated to Robert "Rob" Adams, my step-brother. He passed away September 26, 2010 due to complications of Juvenile Huntington's Disease. I can't wait to see him again some day._


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